


Learn, Too Late

by MrsHamill



Series: Dying of the Light [3]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, M/M, Movie: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Undercover as a Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:00:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24005491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsHamill/pseuds/MrsHamill
Summary: The threads begin to come together and a pattern begins to appear.
Relationships: Bail Organa/Breha Organa, Bail Organa/Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Dying of the Light [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/410109
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	Learn, Too Late

**Author's Note:**

> Though you don't have to read the first two stories, _Wise Men at Their End_ and _Frail Deeds_ , you're going to be pretty lost without at least slim knowledge of what happens in 'em. Most of this takes place during or a bit before the events of _Attack of the Clones_. Sorry it took me ten years to finish this; the last one, _Blaze Like Meteors_ , won't take that long I swear!

Do not go gentle into that good night,  
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  
Rage, rage against the dying of the Light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,  
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,  
Do not go gentle into that good night.

\-- _Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night_ , by Dylan Thomas

* * *

**Things that happen in the Shadows:**

* * *

The almost too-pretty man smiled. It was not a nice smile. "I don't think you can afford me, boy," he said slowly, his beautiful tenor voice a slow drawl.

"I rather think I can, and the name is Vos. Korto Vos." 

"A Guardian, eh? Well, maybe you can afford me. But you'll have to prove it." The man stepped closer to Vos until Vos could feel his body heat.

Vos pulled out a credstick and popped it into his datapad. "That enough for you, _boy_?"

After a brief glance, the man smiled again, this time with more warmth. "For some things." He moved back into the shadows of the filthy alley. "What do you have in mind?"

Vos followed hungrily, like a fish on a string, until he was certain they were out of sight to the main street. "Dooku's been seen on Raxus Prime," he murmured, as he took the man into his arms. "And he's up to something."

"Can you find out what?" Ben Kenbar wrapped his arms around Quinlan Vos and gave the mouth of the alley a thorough look over Quinlan's shoulder. 

"I'm going to try," Quinlan replied. Their voices were hardly more than subvocalizations. "Villie told me he appears to be gathering malcontents to him and seems to be on the verge of outright sedition."

"I hope you're not trusting anything Vilmarh Grahrk tells you," Ben said.

"Of course not. But he's good for what I need." Quinlan nuzzled Ben's neck. "I think Dooku has gotten even more dangerous; he appears to be turning into that most awful of things, a political idealist."

"If so, he'll be ripe for the picking by the Sith master," Ben replied. "Anything else?"

"That's the biggest. But Naboo keeps popping up in very bad circles, for some reason. Look into it, and check that bastard Gunray too, I think he's trying something."

"I will. Thanks. I've slipped a new code chip in your pocket."

"So that's what it was. I thought you were feeling me up." Quinlan pulled back far enough to grin at Ben, who rolled his eyes.

Abruptly, Ben grabbed Quinlan by his hair and appeared to yank him away, pushing and pulling him off-balance until he fell to one knee at the alley's entrance.

"Hey!" Vos reached for his blaster but the beautiful man already had a smaller blaster in his hand. "I said I could pay!"

"You've got to be _clean_ for me, boy," the man said. "I suck cock, not parasites." With one foot, he pushed Vos's shoulder. "Get a bath and maybe we can deal."

With a sour look and muttering under his breath about uppity prostitutes, Korto Vos regained his feet and stumbled away to look for someone cheaper and with less scruples.

* * *

Darth Tyranus initiated the two-way link then bowed as his dark-robed master appeared on the holoemitter. "My Master."

"Darth Tyranus. What news do you bring me?"

"The bounty hunter Fett is now living full-time on Kamino and the operations there are moving at a good pace." Probably too well, he thought to himself, but carefully didn't say so. "As you've instructed, I've pointed Gunray and the Trade Federation to Geonosis, and they are in negotiations. The Techno Union and the Banking Clan have also joined in the separatist movement, just as you said they would."

"Excellent, excellent," Darth Sidious replied, rubbing his hands together. 

"There is other news, less good," Tyranus said carefully. "Certain of our traps have been sprung. Someone is hunting us, my Master."

Sidious looked at him carefully. "Who?"

"I do not know, not at this time." Tyranus swallowed his nerves back down his throat. "I sense whoever it is has a strong Force signature, one that is oddly familiar, though I can't place it."

"A Jedi, then?" 

"I... I'm not certain but no, I don't think so." Tyranus closed his eyes and once again sought the elusive thread of power he'd tasted so many times. Again, like all the other times, it slipped from his grasp like smoke. "I can almost touch it, but not quite."

"We must be careful." Sidious had a habit of studying him like a bug under a microscope and Dooku—no, Tyranus—had to fight to keep from squirming. "Nothing can go wrong now, my Apprentice. We are too far along to have to start again."

"I realize that. I will work to find out who has been trying to track us down and deal with them."

"Good. See to it you make no mistakes." Tyranus couldn't keep from swallowing at the underlying threat in Sidious's words. "Report back to me at the usual time."

Tyranus bowed again. "Yes, my Master." When he came back up, the holoemitter was off. He moistened lips from a mouth that was too dry and wondered how he'd ever gotten so far into this mess.

* * *

"Cliegg?"

"Shmi! I have wonderful news, my love!"

"What is it?"

"A windfall, love, a windfall! Remember I told you about Ator?"

"Yes... it's where Owen was born."

"Yes. My first wife... Aika..."

"I remember, dear Cliegg. From just listening to you describe her, she sounded wonderful. I wish I could have met her."

"I wish you could have too. You remind me of her—in your wonderful and generous spirit."

"Cliegg..."

"I'm serious. I love you for the same reasons I loved her, and oh... I suppose that doesn't sound right, but Shmi, I mean--"

"I know what you mean. And I love you too."

"You always know my heart. But listen; I was just contacted by a young man who said he represented Aika's family and there had been a mix-up in some inheritance and I was due some recompense. Shmi... it's enough money to... to..."

"Cliegg?"

"To buy you, love. To buy you. To buy you and free you and marry you... and I know Watto is in some financial difficulty too, so he'll--"

"Cliegg?!"

"I can do it, my love. I can finally do it! If... I mean, if that is..."

"Sweet stars, Cliegg..."

"Will you? Will you marry me, Shmi? Please?"

"Oh... Cliegg..."

"Don't cry, love!"

"I... I can't help... if only Anakin..."

"I know. I know. I wish so too. But Owen... he needs a mother. Please say yes, my love. Please."

"Oh... Yes! Yes, yes, yes!"

"I will be there tomorrow at first light. Shmi... We can do it. We can get married and free you."

"Almost every dream come true..."

"What, love?"

"Nothing, sweet Cliegg. Nothing. I am so happy! I can't wait to see you again."

"Soon, lovely Shmi. Soon."

* * *

Bail Organa was nearly finished for the day when a courier delivered a message to his office, written in ink on real parchment. It was an invitation to a very high-class party in the home of a very high-class lobbyist and while the party was probably genuine, Bail knew it was also a code. 

The Senate had been polarized on the topic of the Jedi for the last nine years. There was a strong coalition of loyalists who refused to back any censure of the Jedi proposed by any other faction and an equally strong (and growing) faction who demanded stronger reins on the way the Jedi operated in the Republic. Several years earlier, Master Tholme of the Jedi had given Bail a code chip and told him what to do in case he was ever needed for any clandestine meeting. There had been two such meetings, generally with an undercover knight, always with information that helped Bail avert tragedy. This would be the third.

The coded message told him to go to a certain place at a certain time. The place wasn't in the lower city, but it wasn't in the highest class vicinity either. There was a store nearby which carried certain imported oils and fragrances that Bail's wife loved, which made it a logical destination for Senator Bail Organa, and wouldn't arouse suspicion.

He took an airtaxi to the vicinity, stopping at the store first to purchase the oils, chatting with the shopkeeper as he did. The nearest public airtaxi term was down the narrow street, and Bail walked there in confidence. Halfway, he tripped over something and nearly dropped his bag. As he leaned against the wall to examine his shoe, he felt a presence behind him, where a narrow alleyway started.

"There will be an attempt on the life of Senator Padme Amidala when she returns to Coruscant next month," a quiet, oddly familiar voice said. "You must find a discreet way to warn her."

"Padme? Why Padme?" Bail let his foot fall back to the pavement as he bent to pick up the package he had put down. As he glanced over his shoulder to the alley, he was unsurprised to find it empty. 

His question went unanswered, but not forgotten. Days later, as he concentrated on his work, he stopped and suddenly realized why the voice he'd heard sounded so familiar. But it couldn't be him, because that man had been dead for almost ten years.

Hadn't he?

* * *

Tears and cries of pain and anguish haunted Anakin Skywalker's dreams. He heard his mother crying out to him, heard Padme sobbing his name, heard Aayla cursing under her breath as she went down under a tidal wave of attackers, heard newborn babies wailing, alone in the cold darkness. The dreams were becoming more and more relentless, driving him to distraction. Finally, hearing his mother scream his name brought him awake, covered in sweat, sitting bolt upright in his bed with a gasp.

"Calm yourself, Padawan," he heard, and the gentle hands of Master Adi caressed his brow. 

He brought his hands up to his face and tried to keep from sobbing in his pain and confusion. Master Adi gathered him to herself, putting his head on her shoulder and patting his back soothingly. "More dreams?" she asked as his breathing slowly returned to normal.

"Yes," he managed to say. He leaned into her strength and warmth and felt his fears begin to drop away as she spread balm across his psyche. "About Mom and Padme. And Aayla, too."

"That's new," Master Adi said. She continued to hold him for several more minutes while he calmed, then released him when she felt him begin to pull away. 

He was so lucky to have her as his master, Anakin thought. She reminded him of his mother; she was always so serene and strong and he clung to her like she was his very own rock in a maelstrom of confusion. He wiped his brow with his forearm and scooted away far enough to be able to see her clearly, not at all embarrassed that he still needed her, even though he was nineteen and a senior padawan. He had felt embarrassed, briefly, a few years back and all it took was one incredulous, amused look from her to make him realize—it didn't matter that he still needed her like he did. He might always need her, and that would be fine by her. "Yeah, I don't think I've ever dreamed about Aayla before."

"Do you think it's because she has just been cleared for her trials? Or do you feel that these dreams are prophetic?"

"I... I don't know, Master." Calmer, finally—thanks to his master—he tried to recall the dreams. "You know how she gets, when something isn't going her way?"

Adi smiled. "Yes, and I know Master Vos has tried to claim he has no idea where she learned those curse words."

Anakin smiled back at her. "As if. But yeah, it was like that, only she was... was going under. Being attacked and there were too many for her to deal with." As he described it, Anakin felt the power of the dream trying to drag him back into panic, but he was awake and could control it. "I've never seen anything like the place where she was, it was primitive and there were both droids and animals attacking. It felt real... really real."

"Then it was perhaps prophetic." And that was another thing he loved about Master Adi. She never discounted anything he said, always took even his wildest fancies seriously. She had never censured him for still being attached to his mother; she had even allowed him to write her occasionally (though mail to and from Tatooine was notoriously slow and chancy) and had given him the holocharm as a remembrance. "I'll be certain to mention it to Master Vos. In the meantime, there are still several hours to dawn. Why don't you try to get more sleep?"

"I'm... not sure I can, Master," Anakin said with a grimace.

"That bad?" She nodded when Anakin did. "Let me help, then. You need your rest for tomorrow, yes?"

He smiled and let his body flop back to the bed. With a gentle echo of his smile, Master Adi reached out her hand and caressed his brow. "Sleep," she whispered, and before his next breath, Anakin slept.

* * *

**Things that happen in the Light:**

* * *

"I really don't know if it was a good idea to put us on this protection detail, Anakin."

Anakin stared at his master, blinking in surprise. "Why? Is something..."

"You, my young and handsome padawan, are too close to the matter." Master Adi gave him a fond smile, but Anakin could read the doubt behind her eyes. "I know you believe yourself to be in love with her."

"I do. I am. I mean..." Anakin made a frustrated noise and Master Adi chuckled. 

"Your thoughts betray you, Anakin." She smiled gently and abashed, Anakin smiled back. "Calm, Padawan."

The elevator they were on would eventually take them to Senator Amidala's penthouse apartment and if either of them had turned to look, they would have seen a spectacular skyscape out the glass sides of the lift. Anakin never noticed the view. He was concentrating on remembering a face that had haunted his dreams for almost ten years. "Why is that a bad thing?" he finally asked. "Us guarding her, I mean."

Master Adi frowned and sighed. "For several reasons. You know that Senator Amidala believes that the separatist faction is behind the attempt on her life; if this is so, then it will take more than just you and I to help in the matter. You also know we were asked for specifically by the office of the Supreme Chancellor," she added. Reaching out her hand, she pressed the 'stop' button. "And I know that you like him, and I know that he's flattered you by his attention to you over the years."

"And _I_ know you don't like him, Master." Anakin faced her with a frown. "Though I'm not sure why. He's never been anything but helpful to me."

"I realize that. But he has never been anything but cold to the Jedi, so I'm left to wonder why he would single you out of all the others he doesn't care for."

Anakin was taken aback. "He doesn't like the Jedi?"

"All evidence points to that," Master Adi said. "Since he became the Supreme Chancellor, he has constantly struggled to curb Jedi power in the galaxy. We have been faced with more and harsher rules governing where and what we can do. While our missions haven't decreased in number, the aftermath of each mission has been scrutinized far more stringently than ever." She looked sad. "There have been other things as well, Anakin. I know you haven't known of this specifically, but there's a good reason for it—only the Council is privy to all of it."

"Wow." Anakin blinked as he absorbed Master Adi's words. "But... why? He's never said anything bad about the Jedi in my presence..." Even as he said it, Anakin winced internally, for that wasn't strictly true. The Supreme Chancellor had often gently mocked some of the tenets of Jedi life, in particular, the 'no attachments' rule. But gentle mocking was a far cry from censure.

Master Adi turned the lift back on. She didn't need to say anything further; she knew her padawan, knew Anakin would be thinking hard about what she had said and about what he had heard from both the Chancellor and others, particularly Ben Kenbar. Though he hadn't seen the man once known as Obi-Wan Kenobi often in the past ten years, he thought he understood what Ben was trying to do, how Ben was trying to change the Jedi while he hunted for the Sith. Anakin (along with Anakin's friend, Aayla Secura) had followed Ben's advice and studied the Sith, studied what they did and how they did it. He still wasn't sure why the Dark Side of the Force was bad, but he was confident he at least partially understood it.

Then there was the issue of discontent with the separatists. Padme—no, he thought, Senator Amidala, he must remember to be professional in this matter, no matter what his feelings were—had returned to Coruscant for a key vote in the Senate, which was probably why her life was in danger. He knew she was one of those called the Loyalists, the ones who supported the Jedi and the traditions of the Senate.

The thoughts were relegated to Anakin's subconscious as the elevator smoothly came to a stop on the top floor of the apartment complex. They left it and moved to the proper door. When it was opened for their chime, they found themselves facing a young woman who seemed harmless but felt—at least to Anakin—extremely dangerous. A handmaiden/bodyguard, then. The woman let them in and called for her mistress, who was out on a balcony with a young, dark-skinned man who sported a patch over one eye. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, and his heart yearned for her touch.

"Senator Amidala," Master Adi said, bowing. "I am Master Adi Gallia. I believe you know my padawan, Anakin Skywalker."

"Ani?!" Her eyes widened as she looked past Master Adi and saw him. "Is it really you? You've grown so much!"

"So have you," Anakin heard himself say, though he would have thought the lack of air in the room would have precluded speech. "More beautiful, I mean." He wanted to drink her with his eyes. To his consternation, he realized he was trembling. 

Master Adi gave him a quelling look over her shoulder. "I believe you know why we're here."

"Yes," she said, indicating they should sit. The door chimed as they did so. "This is Captain Typho, my chief of security, and you've met Dorme," she indicated the young woman who was going to answer the door. "I'm surrounded by protection, Master Jedi. That's not what I need, though... I need answers, more than anything else, more even than Jedi protection."

"I hope you'll let us be the deciding factor in that," said a familiar voice, and both Anakin and Master Adi turned. 

"Quinlan?" Master Adi said. She started to rise, but he waved her back to her seat. "What are you doing here?"

"More Jedi?" Padme looked distressed. "Were you also sent by the Chancellor?"

"Actually, no, my Lady." Quinlan nodded to Master Adi and gave Anakin's shoulder a squeeze. Master Quinlan's presence always meant something special to Anakin; he'd grown very fond of Aayla's master over the years, as much for his irreverent humor as his kindness. "I was asked to come by the Council via Senator Organa, who has received some interesting... intelligence, recently." He gave Master Adi a significant glance, which Anakin caught. News from Ben Kenbar, then, Anakin inferred.

"Bail sent you?" Padme looked between the Jedi and her captain. "I don't understand."

"That there would be an attempt on your life we suspected over a month ago," Quinlan said. He perched on the back of the sofa, behind Anakin. "Certain intelligence had come to us that indicated such an attack was more than likely. This information was passed to Senator Organa and he, in turn, passed it on to your people."

"Yes, it was Senator Organa who originally warned us of the possible attack." Captain Typho's good eye narrowed. 

"While I cannot divulge our sources, I can elaborate on what else has happened. Such as the listening and monitoring devices planted in this apartment, and the attempt at placing a bomb in the apartment beneath you."

Typho started in surprise and Padme blanched. "A bomb? Monitoring devices?"

"They've all been deactivated, my Lady. At the moment, you're safe." Anakin glanced up at Quinlan, who smiled grimly before continuing. "At the moment, you are safe," he repeated, "but there will probably be another attempt on your life tonight or tomorrow night. Unfortunately, that's as much information as we have at the moment."

Padme was looking at her hands, which were knotted in her lap. 

"I've been trying to explain to the Senator that the situation is more dangerous than she understood," Typho said. "I'm glad you're here to help explain it to her and to help me protect her."

"I still say I need answers more than I need protection," Padme murmured. She finally looked up, directly into Anakin's eyes—though that may have been in part due to the fact that Anakin only rarely glanced away from her. "I need to know who is trying to kill me, and why. Will your... sources... be able to get that information for me? Will you?"

"We will find out who's trying to kill you, Padme," Anakin said without thinking. "I promise."

As soon as he spoke, he was aware of his master's sigh and censure. "Our mandate is to protect you, Senator Amidala. Not to run an investigation," she said quietly.

"Which is why I'm here," Quinlan smoothly interjected. "While Adi and Anakin protect you, I'll be working behind the scenes to see if I can't determine who is behind these attacks."

After a moment, Padme nodded. "All right," she said. "I accept your help." She looked directly at Anakin as she said it, and Anakin smiled helplessly.

* * *

Captain Typho had cleared the entire building and had enough security forces in the lobby to stop an army. Anakin and Adi were in the apartment with Padme, and Quinlan knew that Anakin was so attuned to the senator that her every burp of indigestion would register on the boy's sonar. That left up, and so there he was, crouched on the top of the building, using mag boots to keep from being blown off.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," he heard and grinned. Ben Kenbar, also wearing mag boots, crouched beside him.

"Yeah, well you're a cheap date," Quinlan shot back.

Ben grabbed at his chest and pretended to stagger back. "You wound me, Jedi scum! I'll have you know I'm extremely expensive."

Quinlan made a rude noise and followed it with a laugh. They settled down together, sweeping the area with more than just eyes. "So, how'd it go inside?" Ben asked.

"That boy has such a hard-on for our favorite senator I'm surprised he can walk," Quinlan said sourly. "Adi has him mostly under control, I think, but he has it _bad_. When I left, he was pissing and groaning about how she didn't really recognize him." He snorted. "She said something to the effect that he'd always be the little boy she met on Tatooine. Ouch, right to the 'nads."

Ben shook his head. "Poor kid. It's bad enough to be in love. The Senator is so far out of his league they might as well be on opposite sides of the galaxy."

"I dunno, Ben," Quinlan said, rubbing his chin and shifting to keep his legs from cramping. "There is definitely something there between them. I could feel it and I'm sure Adi did too. I just don't know what it is or how powerful it is." Quinlan turned after a moment to find Ben staring at him. "What?"

" _You're_ getting sensitive now? Since when?"

"Oh thank _you_ , Mr. Epitome of the Perfect Jedi." Quinlan rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know I'm a very good Jedi indeed."

"Uh-huh." Ben's expression was one of humorous disbelief and it made Quinlan oddly irritated. Normally, he wouldn't mind Ben's sharply placed teasing, but he had been on edge lately and he wasn't sure why. Ben, of course, picked up on it immediately, as he sobered. "What's going on with you, Quin?"

Ben's words were accompanied by an especially strong gust of wind which Quinlan allowed to pass before he spoke. "I don't know," he said with a sigh. He was suddenly uneasy. "This is all getting surreal, like something I'm watching from the outside. So many things are going on I can track only some of them. And then, I hear some of us say they can't access the Force as much, and I wonder why, since I can. Or at least, I think I can."

The silence between them was only a cessation of speech; the wind tore through the buildings and around the artificial canyons of Coruscant's Upper City, shrieking when it couldn't dislodge them. Quinlan shifted again and Ben did the same. "The Council feels the Force is weakening," Ben finally said. "They believe it's something to do with the Dark Side."

Quinlan turned to look directly at Ben. "But it's not. I would feel it if it were." He hesitated. "Wouldn't I?"

"Would you? I don't know. I don't feel any weakening of the Force, either. Neither does Kellin."

"Then... who's right?" Quinlan was getting a headache and it wasn't because he was splitting his concentration between the conversation and monitoring their surroundings. 

"Define right."

"Oh, for the love of... when did you turn into Master Yoda?"

The grin on Ben's face was clear even in the flickering light of passing ships. "You aren't stupid, Quinlan Vos. You'll figure it out without me having to tell you anything." Their silence was less pregnant this time, and both of them let it go on for a long time. 

"I think I need to meditate more," Quinlan finally muttered after turning Ben's words around and around in his head.

"I think you need to get laid more often," Ben shot back. "Are you seeing Bail Organa any time soon?"

The mention of Bail's name made Quinlan's heart clench. "No. And I won't be, either."

Ben's gaze on Quinlan was assessing. "Why not?"

"Look, Ben, he's married. He's happily married, well, mostly happily married, he loves her. And I love him so I'm staying out of it. That's the best thing to do." Or maybe the worst thing to do, Quinlan thought.

"'Bid me not to drink from thy bitter dregs, for I will have _naught_ , and thy pain will be thine own forevermore,'" Ben muttered. He was obviously quoting something that Quinlan didn't recognize.

"What the hell is that about?"

Ben waved his hand. "Doesn't matter. Look, Quin. Love doesn't subtract, it multiplies. You're going to need to remember that."

"We're not allowed to love, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Quinlan said through gritted teeth. He wondered why he was so suddenly angry—or, rather, so consumed by emotions. He _was_ a good Jedi. "And I don't think we need two of us out here at the same time. I'll be in the apartment, catching some sleep. Ping me when you're done and I'll relieve you."

Not waiting for an answer, Quinlan got up and slowly left the roof, wading through the wind with his magnetic boots.

* * *

There was no attack that night. Quinlan relieved Ben sometime around the middle of the night and Ben left, without a word but with a sad glance and a squeeze to Quinlan's shoulder. 

They'd kept a speeder and a swoop tethered to the antennae and rods poking out of the roof of the apartment building and Ben took the swoop back to his flop. The bike was far easier to hide from any pursuit, not that he suspected any. He and Kellin had become adept at blending into any background, at avoiding pretty much any pursuit. They were able to hide themselves in plain sight now, and Kellin was making good progress at something Ben wanted to master—disguising his Force presence. Sometimes not even Ben could sense he was there.

Something which was proven again when Ben walked into the apartment converted from a run-down factory and warehouse they used when on Coruscant and was immediately jumped by his lover. Kellin let his shields drop a split second before attacking his mate so that Ben wouldn't try to kill him immediately.

Once Ben could speak again (it's rather difficult to talk when your lover has his tongue halfway down your throat) he gasped, "What are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining, but why aren't you—oh, do that again!"

With a lascivious grin, Kellin ground his thigh between Ben's legs. "Got a trace on Fett. He's here."

Ben yanked Kellin's head down for another kiss. Once that was broken, he pushed Kellin back. "On Coruscant? Fuck."

"Sounds good to me." Kellin picked up Ben, using his hands under his lover's bottom. 

Ben laughed even as he wrapped his legs around Kellin's waist. "You're a sex maniac!"

"And you love it." Laughing, Kellin carried Ben to the small bedroom and tossed him on the bed. "You've got five seconds to get naked or I start ripping." As he spoke, he started stripping out of his coveralls. 

"These are my favorite pants! Don't you dare shred them, too!" Ben protested indignantly while wiggling as quickly as he could out of said pants. 

Practice makes perfect and they were quite adept at getting out of clothing at this stage of their relationship. In short order they were both naked and rolling on the mattress, an oversized one they had purchased specially. Kellin was a big man and he needed a big bed, especially since they spent so much time in it.

They wrestled for supremacy, reveling in being together again and feeling each other's skin. Ben licked and bit everywhere he could, aware his lover was doing the same. Kellin finally managed to turn them so that he was on top and locked his knees around Ben's hips. "I missed you, so much," he whispered as he sank down on Ben's erection.

It took an act of will to keep from thrusting up and ending things all too soon, but Ben managed. He gasped and threw back his head; Kellin immediately took advantage, biting and sucking along Ben's extended throat. It was a sensitive spot for Ben and Kellin knew it, took advantage of it while slowly impaling himself onto Ben. 

Suddenly Kellin was all the way down and all bets were off. There was a moment where two pairs of eyes met and two Force auras merged happily into one entity again, then their bodies took over. There was nothing left but the give and take of pleasure, mounting into a peak which led them up and over, down into a morass of shared joy.

A long time later Ben managed to find the scattered remains of his brain's higher functions enough to speak. "I love you," he murmured into Kellin's breast. They were side by side and Ben's spent cock had fallen out of Kellin some time before.

"Love you, so much," he felt, more than heard, through the medium of Kellin's broad chest.

After a bit longer, Ben continued. His voice sounded sleepy and sated to his ears. "Fett's here?"

"Um-hmm."

"How long?"

"Not long. Less than a ten. Maybe a half or less." 

"The bomb?"

"Not his style, don't you think? Too unfocused."

"He could be contracting out."

"Ummm." Kellin was silent for a few moments and Ben could feel him thinking. "Maybe. Do we have the list of his subcontractees?"

"Somewhere. I'll get it when we get up."

"Good." Kellin's arms tightened around Ben and they drifted into sleep, a sated, sticky mess but incandescently happy.

* * *

There was no attack on Senator Amidala that evening. Quinlan let Adi and Anakin escort her to the Senate building the next day by themselves while he caught up on sleep and meditated. He'd only had a moment to talk to Adi alone, but she confirmed that there was indeed something between Amidala and Anakin. She wasn't sure what it was or even how it was, but it was definitely there.

His padawan pounced on him when she returned from her morning classes. "Master Sticky-pants!"

He laughed and returned Aayla's hug. "How many times have I told you to be more deferential to your elders, Padawan?"

"About a thousand times, why?" She bounced into the kitchen and started pulling things out and down. "You're going to be on point again tonight, aren't you?"

"Yes, late tonight. What are you doing?"

"I'm making you a biiiiig lunch. Healthy food. With vegetables. Because I know you and you'll settle for something embarrassingly greasy for dinner and you have to take care of yourself, Master, I can hear your arteries hardening from here."

Quinlan raised his eyes heavenward. "Dear Force, next time, get me a padawan who knows how to be calm and peaceful—and deferential, don't forget that—and doesn't want to play mother hen to me. Love, Quinlan."

Aayla made a rude noise in his general direction and didn't even slow down.

One thing that could be said of Aayla Secura (other than the fact that she was almost embarrassingly pretty) was that she was an excellent cook. She could even make vegetables appealing. Quinlan hadn't broken his fast, and realized as he sat down that hadn't eaten at all since latemeal the day before. He demolished the lunch she made for him, went back for seconds then finished up what she couldn't eat on her plate to boot. He tried to ignore her giggles.

After they had cleared the mess and cleaned the dishes, she collected a textpad. 

"Whatcha got there, Bluey?"

"Astromech, Yells." She grimaced. "I'm telling you, for my trials, they're just going to make me put a small ship back together and I'm going to fail, fail, fail. Is Anakin going to be tied up with that protection detail much longer? I could really use his help." 

"You're gonna have to get it somewhere else, Bluey, unless something dramatic happens tonight." He walked around her—she was sprawled on her stomach on the floor, looking more like a fifteen-year-old than a twenty-two-year-old senior padawan scant weeks from knighthood—and took a seat on their battered couch. "Which brings up something I'd like to ask you about Anakin."

She looked up, an attentive expression on her face.

"Have you ever sensed... some sort of bond in Anakin? Besides the master-padawan bond, I mean."

"You mean that thing he's got with the Senator? Yeah, why?"

Quinlan blinked in shock. "Wait a minute... back up. Tell me what you mean there."

Setting the textpad aside, she sat up, gracefully folding her legs into lotus. "Anakin has some sort of weird bond with Padme Amidala." She rolled her eyes. "When he's not talking mechanics or things related, he's talking about her. Incessantly. It's boring at times, Yells, lemme tell you. It's a good thing I like him or I might have gagged him at least five times in the last month alone."

"But what do you mean about the bond?"

"I guess just what you meant... I mean, it feels kinda like a lover's bond. I think." She scrunched up her face. "You remember the first time you introduced me to Ben?"

Quinlan nodded, in a daze.

"I could feel the lover's bond he has with his partner. Even though his partner wasn't there and wasn't named and you know I have a pretty good guess who he is, right? It's nice. The bond, I mean. It feels kind of soft and tickly."

"A lover's bond feels soft and tickly." Quinlan felt like the world had tipped without his knowledge and he was left hanging on without a safety line.

"Well, that's not what I mean _exactly_ ," she qualified. "I mean, I can't articulate it because there's no specific semantical nomenclature describing that particular feeling. But that's what comes to mind."

"And that's what you feel in Anakin?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Of course, his isn't completed and Ben's was. That's a big difference in there, Yells."

Quinlan couldn't have spoken even if he knew the words to use. He gaped at his padawan until she started giggling again. That finally helped him find his voice. "When did you get so smart?" he demanded.

"While you were out on the outer rim, why?" 

Once again rolling his eyes heavenward, Quinlan said, "Force, P.S.; please make sure he or she is not smarter than I am, too. Love, Quinlan." Sitting down next to his giggling padawan, he began helping her with her astromech homework.

* * *

Quinlan was supposed to have the early sentry, but found Ben on the roof already once he arrived. "I thought I was on for tonight?" He asked, coming to crouch next to Ben. He felt bad enough about their semi-argument of the night before and hoped Ben had forgotten, or at least forgiven.

"You are," Ben replied with a grin. "But something's going to happen tonight, I think. We think."

"Wait, Kellin's here? I thought he was..."

"He got back last night. A bounty hunter we've been tracking arrived on Coruscant less than a half ago with my partner in hot pursuit."

"A bounty hunter, huh? Could it be the one who tried to blow up our senator?"

"Dunno." Ben rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "He usually stays _just_ this side of the law, and though we haven't been able to catch him on the other, I'd bet my last credit he's at home with it. What's going on down there tonight?"

"The senator has retired early with her pet astromech droid on sentry duty. Adi is meditating and Anakin is drowning in his own drool. Which reminds me." Quinlan waited until Ben turned to him. "My padawan is a genius, did you know that?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "Quin, she's smarter than you and that's not difficult."

"Ah, but she's even smarter than you, my sharp-tongued friend. I asked her if she's ever felt any sort of bond in Anakin, other than the normal master-padawan bond, and she immediately asked if I meant the 'thing' he has with Padme. Not _over_ Padme, mind you, but _with_ , as if it were two-sided. She says it felt like the lover's bond the two of you have."

Quinlan was extremely gratified to see Ben's eyes nearly pop from their sockets. "She said that?"

"Yep. My padawan is a genius. So there."

"And yet she still has you as a master," Ben murmured, but Quinlan could see his heart wasn't in his teasing. He'd managed to surprise and impress the man and he resolved to give Aayla a day off with her favorite treat as soon as humanly possible.

The wind picked up, making further speech uncomfortable. They crouched on the roof of Senator Amidala's apartment for some time, feeling the Force swirl around them. Ben was right, something was going to happen, and it was going to be soon. Then he heard a klaxon in his head and twisted, immediately moving as quickly as he could to the door. "We need to get down there," he tossed over his shoulder to Ben, who was following him closely.

Abruptly, Ben stopped. "I'm staying up here... go!"

Quinlan rushed to the access hatch, dove through it and rolled when he hit the carpet, coming to his feet in time to hear the snap-hiss-hum of a lightsaber being lit and Amidala's shriek. He only got a quick glimpse of the Senator's bedroom (and the parts of what once might have been two or three kouhuns) before seeing a droid hovering just outside the window. Not coming to a stop, he bellowed "Stay here!" to Anakin and Adi, then rocketed out the window in an attempt to catch the droid. He missed, sailing in an elegant arc directly for the Entertainment District half a klick below.

The speeder driven by Ben came up to meet him and he landed with a thud that blew all the air out of him. Instinctively, he grabbed the back of a seat and held on.

"You all right?" Ben yelled over the wind.

Quinlan nodded shortly and dragged himself into the seat. 

"I've got a lock on it, we're following. Kellin's on the swoop on the other side."

His breath back, Quinlan said, "Thanks for catching me."

"No problem. You'd be hard to replace. Takes years of training. Not to mention money." Ben shot him a grin and Quinlan rolled his eyes. "Didn't expect you to go the defenestration route, though."

"The _what_?"

"Ask your padawan," Ben replied with a wicked grin.

The droid led them on a merry tour of the Entertainment District. Occasionally, they caught sight of Kellin on the swoop keeping up with them, though on a different level. Finally, the droid came to rest on the ledge around a nightclub, where there was another speeder parked and a masked figure waiting. Ben pulled up far enough around that it looked innocuous; whoever it was gave them a suspicious glare before getting into the speeder and heading off.

"Um... he's going in the other direction, Ben," Quinlan said, twisting around to look behind him.

"Kellin's on him," Ben replied. He swooped down and back, coming back into the traffic stream quite a way from where they had been. 

Ben seemed to know where he was going. After another ten minutes in the heavy traffic of the District, he pulled the speeder over next to a huge sign and pulled out his binox. "That's him. Have a look."

Quinlan took the proffered binox and peered in the direction indicated. Their masked assassin was meeting with a taller person wearing what looked like Mandalorian battle armor. "Who is he?"

"Jango Fett. He's a bounty hunter who's been working for Dooku in some capacity that we haven't been able to discern." Ben sounded grim. "We've been waiting for him to try something like this."

The swoop bike carrying Kellin came to a landing next to them. "It's Fett and, unless I miss my mark, that's Zam Wesell with him."

"Then he did subcontract out." 

As they watched, Fett suddenly did something which made the other, Wesell, fall to the ledge they were standing on, then slowly topple off, limp in death. 

"Shit."

"No loss, Ben. She was a cold-blooded killer." Kellin's voice was soft for all his words were hard. 

"I know. But we might have been able to get something from her." Ben sounded as frustrated as Quinlan was confused.

"Um, hello? What just happened here?" he asked plaintively.

"Zam Wesell was a shapeshifter, an assassin who Fett was known to contract out to," Ben replied. They watched as Fett climbed back into his speeder and lifted off. "She was obviously behind both attempts on the Senator's life, and Fett doesn't allow a third failure."

"We need to get the senator off the planet," Kellin said. "Wesell might have missed but Fett won't."

"Yes. He'll use a tactical nuke if he has to." At Quinlan's start of surprise, Ben added, "Whatever it takes, Quin. He won't miss."

"Our favorite senator is seen as one of the leaders of the loyalists—I mean, the opposition," Kellin said. "Would that they still be seen as loyalists," he muttered with a sigh. "She's going to want to stay for the next few votes but we need to get her off the planet."

"What, back to Naboo?" Quinlan rubbed his chin.

"That would probably be safest," Ben agreed. "Have her travel as a refugee, rather than a stateswoman? Better security in a crowd but she'll still need guarding."

"She's not going to like it," Kellin said.

"She'd like dying worse!" Quinlan said with a grin. "She'll find someone to act as proxy for her, someone innocuous and hopefully expendable."

"But that still leaves us with the question of how to get her off planet safely." Ben looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Definitely not alone. Someone is going to have to go with her to make sure she behaves herself."

Quinlan had a sudden thought. "Send Anakin with her." Both Kellin and Ben turned to look at him. "I'm serious. Send Anakin with her. That gets her off-planet, him away from the Chancellor, and both of them together where their bond can grow."

Kellin was nodding slowly. Ben just looked thoughtful.

* * *

To Quinlan's surprise, Adi turned out to agree with them. He would have thought she would want to protect her padawan, but instead she championed him before the Council.

"Anakin is ready for this assignment," she told Yoda and Mace in her quiet, firm voice. "Quinlan is quite correct, we need to get Senator Amidala off Coruscant as quickly as possible. Sending them to Naboo on a slow boat is the safest course."

Mace gave Quinlan one of his patented glares. "Is there no other information on this Fett person?"

"I'm sure there is," Quinlan said with a half-smile. "However, I haven't been able to do any research on him. My sources tell me he's based on Kamino, a planet I've never heard of."

"Find out more, you should," Yoda said, nodding. "Agree with Master Gallia I do. Send Padawan Skywalker to Naboo with Senator Amidala."

"I don't like it," Mace said. Internally, Quinlan rolled his eyes. Unless he proposed it himself, there wasn't much that Master Windu _did_ like. "I'm worried that he'll let his attraction for the senator get in the way of his duty."

"Anakin is a senior padawan and cognizant of his duties, Master Windu." Quinlan didn't dare look at Adi Gallia as she spoke; her voice was a complete dressing down of Mace and a firm putting him back in his place. "I think I know my padawan very well. If I didn't, I'd be sharing your concerns."

Yoda interrupted what might have been an argument before Quinlan even could think about placing bets. "Over, this is. Send Padawan Skywalker to Naboo with Senator Amidala we will. Find out more information on Kamino will Knight Vos." He banged his gimer stick on the side of his chair and apparently that was that.

Quinlan shared a smile with Adi as they left, her for the senator's apartment and him for the library and the tender mercies of the librarian.

* * *

"What do you mean there wasn't any entry for Kamino?" Ben's voice was incredulous and Quinlan shrugged. 

"There wasn't any entry for Kamino. You want me to repeat it again? Because I'm not going back to the library and argue with the dragon-lady anymore, sib."

"Oh, fuck. Fuckity fuck. Shit and fuck and godsdamn it, I need new swear words or at least a better vocabulary in Huttese." Ben was pacing with agitation as he talked and Kellin was watching him from his seat. He had a sad expression on his face. 

From his slouch on their decrepit sofa (which made his own look brand-new in comparison), Quinlan said, "Uh, guys? You wanna give me a leg up here because I'm lost."

Ben didn't even pause in his pacing and muttering; it was Kellin who answered. "It puts the last nail in his coffin, I think," he said sadly. "Dooku. We knew he'd been working with Fett on something going on at Kamino, though we couldn't get close enough to see what it was without tipping our hand or revealing our identities. We were hoping it wasn't something that could point back to the Sith..."

"But it is. You know it is now. He must have sabotaged the library in order to hide whatever it is he's doing and he wouldn't do that for just plain old sedition." Ben finally stopped, then went to one knee in front of Kellin. He braced his hands on Kellin's knees. "I'm so sorry, Qui-Gon. I didn't want this to happen."

"But it has." Kellin reached out to frame Ben's face with his hands. "It has and now we must let it go and do our duty, Obi-Wan. We must do as the Force guides us." 

Quinlan had to look away from the two of them, from the naked emotions on their faces. His heart ached—for Kellin, for Ben, for himself. The amount of pure feeling free in the room made him giddy and he didn't know how they could stand to live through it. Absently, he wondered how Bail was doing, if Breha was on Coruscant or even pregnant yet. Ben sighed and Quinlan heard Kellin lean forward, probably to kiss his lover. 

Turning his mind to the puzzle in order to keep it off what was happening in front of him, he realized something that Ben had just said could be accomplished by him. "You can't go to Kamino, but I can," he said, sitting up straight. "You can stay just out of range and watch, then you can come to my rescue if I need it."

Ben and Kellin looked at him, then at each other. "If we do, it'll be tipping them off to the fact that the Council is in on it," Kellin mused.

"But is that a bad thing?" Ben pushed himself away and stood. "We still don't know his motivation."

"That's a point."

Quinlan looked between the two of them. "Can you decide so I know whether or not I should pack?" he said, raising both eyebrows at them.

* * *

In the end, Quinlan went alone, taking a standard-issue corvette on a Council-sanctioned trip. Ben left a message for him that 'something had come up' and they would meet him at Kamino, but if they didn't get there before he was done to keep in touch with them. He had an uneventful trip and discovered that Kamino was extremely wet when he landed.

The locals were pleased to see him, which he thought was odd, until he learned exactly what Jango Fett was doing on Kamino. The information shocked him profoundly and shook him right down through his big Jedi boots.

They were cloning an army on Kamino. And the Kaminoans thought the Council had authorized it.

Quinlan wasn't certain which bothered him more, that an army of clones was being bred and trained or that the clones were based on Jango Fett. Before he'd left Coruscant, he pulled all available information on the man and was sobered as much by the legal things the guy was said to have done as the illegal but unconfirmed things. And Quinlan knew the illegal allegations were probably all true—he’d seen the man kill a person in cold blood just for failing twice. Not the nicest of people to have around.

When the Kaminoan guide offered to introduce him to Fett, Quinlan found he couldn't resist. Fett in person was not nearly as intimidating as he expected—about Quinlan's height and weight and actually quite good looking. He was raising one of the unaltered clones as his son and that creeped Quinlan out.

Fett apparently felt Jedi presence was enough to cause him to leave, which he did in a rush of hot water. Quinlan let him get a good head start before following the low ping of the homing beacon he'd planted on Fett's ship shortly after landing at Tipoca City. 

He kept Ben and Kellin informed of his progress and was unsurprised to find them waiting for him at Fett’s destination: Geonosis. They orbited near each other in the huge accretion disc around the planet, hooked their crafts together and Quinlan cycled through. "Everything go all right?" he asked as he saw them. Kellin had a spectacular bruise on his left temple and Ben was favoring his right ankle. 

"Yup," Ben replied, tossing Quinlan a bottle of ale. "Rescue op. No problems."

"Uh-huh." He was obviously not going to get anything more out of them so he gave up. "Right, then. I traced Fett here after he left Kamino. If you got the copy of my report to the Council, you know--"

"We got it." Kellin was the soul of brevity lately, Quinlan thought. 

"It needs to be shut down," Quinlan said quietly.

"The Council is discussing its next move," Ben said with an eyeroll that said volumes about what he thought about that. "Meanwhile, we have this lovely planet that shows signs of loads of heavy foundry work."

"They make droids, don't they?" Quinlan said thoughtfully. He was slouching in a chair in the galley, nursing his ale. "Weren't the battle droids the Trade Federation used traced to here?'

"Some of them, yes." Kellin replied. He had a reader in front of him and was calling up several documents. "They were censured and told not to deal in battle droids any longer."

"Slap on the wrist," Quinlan said with disgust.

"It looks to me like they're violating that order," Ben said. "Scans don't lie. Those are battle droid foundries or I'm a Gungan."

"What bothers me more is that... Dooku has been here. Recently." Kellin dropped his datapad and picked up his bottle of ale. "He might be there now, actually. I'd say that's quite possible considering that Fett came to ground here and he's working with Fett."

"So, what do we do, then? Invade?" 

Quinlan started laughing at Ben's words but then realized he was serious. "If you think I'm going to go down there with nothing but a lightsaber and a nasty attitude, you got another think coming to you, brother Jedi!" he said, appalled.

"Oh, come on, Quin, where's your sense of adventure?" Ben had a wicked gleam in his eye as he spoke.

"You are fucking insane." Quinlan whipped his head to stare at Kellin. "Did you know your mate is fucking insane?"

"Yes, I do," Kellin said, sounding not at all discomfited by Quinlan's words. "It can be helpful at times."

"Not this time!" Quinlan looked between them. "Come up with a better plan. I am _not_ going down there either alone or with you two lunatics with me."

"Why are you looking at us two lunatics for a plan, then?" Ben said. He still had a mocking grin on his face and Quinlan glared at him. "Come up with something yourself."

"A task force. Send a Jedi task force to shut them down." Quinlan settled back in his chair and finished his ale. Not being a genius, it was cool whenever he could find something they'd missed.

Ben and Kellin looked at each other, frowning. "Actually..." Kellin said.

"It'd need Senate approval," Ben said.

"We could double-team them. Come at them from both sides." Kellin spoke hard on the heels of Ben's statement and Quinlan felt like he was watching a bocci-ball tourney.

"Double-team who?" he demanded.

"The Council." Kellin frowned into the distance. "Advise the Council of the Geonosis setup—they're obviously voiding the restraining order against them. Have them put together a task force to shut it down. But in order to avoid any protracted debate on it, at the same time go to the Senate and ask them to do a Directed Authorization."

"Force, but that would put Windu's knickers in a twist," Quinlan said. "I like it. But who would go..." The moment he had the thought he knew who they would want to go to the Senate. "Oh, no. No, no. Not me. I'm not going down there and I'm not going to--"

"Bail Organa can get the Directed Authorization shoved through faster than anyone else," Ben said quietly. "And you have the best pipeline to him. We can give you scans which show what's happening down there."

Quinlan got up and stomped to the coldbox to help himself to another ale. Opening it, he took a swig that drained half the bottle before he spoke. "Did you ever find any new swear words, Ben?"

"Hey, it was your idea," Ben replied.

* * *

Of course Quinlan did it. He had little choice. They needed to shut the Trade Federation down and needed an executive Directed Authorization to do it, and that meant Bail Organa, the loyalist senator who also happened to be on the Judiciary Security Committee. But he didn't have to like it. Especially when it meant he'd also have to tell Bail about Kamino and the army growing there, after he and Ben and Kellin discussed the situation.

They left Kellin on-board Quinlan's little corvette while Ben and Quinlan burned the spacelanes back to Coruscant. There was a loud conversation in the main stateroom of the _Hope_ , the ship Ben and Kellin had stolen from Gunray and the Trade Federation, before Kellin left. From what Quinlan could hear, it was something about Kellin behaving himself and not doing anything without consulting his mate. 

He stayed out of it.

The trip back to Coruscant went much faster than the trip out to Kamino, something Quinlan was grateful for. However, there was enough time so that he was able to corner Ben and finally get the answers to the questions he'd been wanting to ask for ages.

He picked a 'day' when they were tired of playing sabacc and too antsy to meditate and too sore to spar. The only other option was sex and for some reason, Quinlan didn't think Ben would go for it. So instead, he trapped Ben in the galley after breakfast and started asking questions.

"Do we _have_ to talk about this?" Ben whined. "We could play tensquares..."

"Talk. Now. You guys have asked me to pretty much put my ass on the line over the past decade or so and haven't really answered my questions. You're gonna now. Your only other options are to space me or fuck me, and I don't think either are on your dance card."

"Well..." Ben drawled with a glance to Quinlan's groin.

" _Talk_."

"Oh all right." Ben scrubbed his face with his hands. "It started with Anakin." He laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back. "Well, no, it didn't actually start with Anakin, but that's where we picked it up. It stared something like fifty years ago or a little more, but even then..." 

Quinlan cleared his throat noisily and glared. 

"Right, right, get on with it,” Ben continued. “Do you remember how we found Anakin?"

"Wasn’t he pod racing on Tatooine?"

"Yeah. He was a vergence. That's what Qui-Gon called it, a vergence in the Force. The kid has a midi-chlorian level you wouldn't believe, Quin. Higher than Yoda's. I spent the whole trip back to Naboo with a reader, studying that stupid prophecy and what a vergence is."

"I'll bite, what _is_ a vergence?" Quinlan asked.

"Well, the dictionary says a vergence is a measure of the convergence or divergence of a pair of light rays, defined as the reciprocal of the distance between a point of reference and the point at which the rays intersect." At Quinlan's blink of surprise, he added, "Yeah. I memorized it. But in the older textbooks, a vergence is more than that. Think of it as a heatsink, only instead of heat it's a place for the Force to gather. Where the lines... well, converge."

"All right, so what does that mean?" Quinlan leaned forward, trying to make sense out of what his friend was saying.

"It goes back to that gods be-damned prophecy, about the 'Chosen One.' The one who will bring balance to the Force." Ben made a rude noise. "I studied that prophecy and prophecies about that prophecy and texts that talked about the prophecy and all the other prophecies until my eyes crossed. _And he shall be born of the Force and the Force will gather into him; yea, he will be filled as the sun fills the sky. And when in the course of his existence he shall gather unto him all that is Light and all that is Dark, he shall bring balance where there is none and all will be as it must and those who have lived as one or the other will be balanced as well_." Ben glared at Quinlan. “Do _you_ understand it?"

"It makes my brain hurt," Quinlan replied with a grimace. "Right. Take it in chunks, then. Born of the Force."

"Anakin's mother said he had no father." Ben rolled his eyes. "I asked her about that at length, you know, trying to make sure she wasn't just pulling the wool over our eyes or had been raped or something and had suppressed it. But she was adamant; she had not been with a man for more than two years before she became pregnant."

"So it was what, a virgin birth?"

"Well, other than the fact that she wasn't a virgin..."

"Human physiology..."

"States there must be a sperm to an egg." Ben nodded. "Born of the Force."

"And he has the highest midi-chlorian count ever." Quinlan nodded; that part was fine. "And the Force will gather into him?"

"Yep."

"And you said he's a vergence, or that's what Kellin said." Quinlan narrowed his eyes in thought. "He's a lens. The Force is focused through him. Right?"

Ben's face had a frown to match. "Well, yeah. That's one interpretation."

"How else would you describe it?"

Ben sighed. "Damned if I know. Kellin was the one who used the heat-sink analogy, but to me..." He shrugged. "The way I see it he's a wire between two poles, one Dark and the other Light. He's the cap to a battery. Maybe."

"It bugs me that it says both Light and Dark Force will be in him," Quinlan said, rubbing his face. He wondered if it were too early in the 'day' for an ale or something stronger. "The Sith is the Dark, right?"

"Yeah. And that's the other thing. Kellin and I have done a whole lot of studying of the Dark Side in the last ten years. There's a lot out there and you know what? It's all booby-trapped."

Now that was just ridiculous. "Again, please; this time in basic?"

"We think that's what might have happened to Dooku. He was studying the books and fell into their trap. It's what happened to Kun, we think, on Korriban-That-Was, it's the same kind of thing. But we had one thing Dooku—and Kun, for that matter—did not." Ben nodded slowly.

"What?"

"Each other." Ben swallowed. "Kellin was ahead of me. He was studying a text that was purported to have been written by Exar Kun after his transformation and based on an older text that might have had origins in the Freedon Nadd or the Anzati." 

Quinlan winced and Ben immediately backpedaled. "Sorry, Quin. Didn't mean to..."

"It's all right. Keep going."

Ben nodded. "Anyway, there was this... I don't know how to describe it, a tickle? At the back of my head. When I looked over at Kellin, the first thing I saw was him, buried in a cloud of black."

Quinlan's mouth went dry. "Dark?"

"Uh-huh. Extremely. It's almost as if... you read about it, and it tries to get you."

Deciding it was definitely not too early, Quinlan stood and began rummaging through the cupboards for something strong. "Next cabinet over," Ben said. "There's a couple of bottles of Corellian brandy."

He brought both bottles to the table along with two glasses which he filled for both of them. "So tell me how you're kidding here," Quinlan said, taking a nice big gulp of the burning liquid.

"Wish I could." Ben matched him and coughed. "We've done more studying of the Dark Side than any Jedi since Ulic Qel-Droma, I think; though Dooku might have done almost as much. We've always been taught that the Dark Side is to be avoided, that fear and anger leads to it. Well, let me tell you, my brother, that's load of bantha poodoo. Yoda can spout platitudes all day long about how hard it is to see the Dark side and that's bullshit. It's the same damn Force. It _is_ the same, it's all the same, just how you use it changes." He took another sip of brandy. "When you allow the Force to lead you, when you accept it and don't try to change it, you're of the Light. When you go against it, when you try to change it for your own purposes, it becomes Dark." Ben leaned forward, tapping the table to make his point. "Quinlan, I tell you three times: there is _no difference_ between the Light and Dark Force. It's only in how you react to it."

"So when Kellin..."

"Those books are the next best thing to an instruction manual, how to _control_ the Force rather than letting it control you. You read and you can't help trying: it's like reading the words themselves is doing." He leaned back. "If you use the Force, if you control it, you can do some pretty amazing stuff. Like stopping or even reversing the aging process. Like creating or sustaining life. Like using your body as a sort of lightning rod or concentrator and then broadcasting it into a weapon. Things like that."

Quinlan poured himself another glass. "I remember as a kid, I stumbled on a picture of Kun or Qel-Droma shooting lightning out of his hands. It gave me nightmares until I convinced myself it wasn't real."

"It's real. We've tried it, even. Gave Kellin one hell of a burn, but he did manage to do it."

There was a sour feeling in the pit of Quinlan's stomach. "How do you fight something like that? _Can_ you fight it?"

"Yes, and we'll teach you, don't worry." Ben poured himself another glass. "And of course the worst of it is knowing the Council is falling to the Dark."

That was the last straw. Quinlan leaned down until his forehead hit the table. "Just kill me now."

"Quin, you wanted to know." Ben's voice was sympathetic but firm. "And really, for all my whinging, you do need to know. You're our secret weapon, in a large sense, because you're still visibly Jedi. You have underworld contacts, have Senatorial contacts, you know it all. Your actions carry the legal cachet that ours do not, that ours _can_ not. Above all, you know what Qui-Gon and I are trying to do and you agree with it."

Quinlan slowly lifted his head. He took a deep breath and tried to release his tension to the Force, but the Force threw it right back at him. "How is the Council going Dark, Ben?" he finally asked, and his voice sounded fatalistic even to him.

"Political expediency," Ben replied promptly. "More and more the Council has had to thrust the Force aside in order to do the Senate's bidding. In effect, they're controlling the Force and that's the wrong path to go down."

Frowning, Quinlan asked, "Is that why they're saying the Force is weakening?" 

"Maybe. We're not sure. There's something else going on too, and it involves Yoda." Ben sipped his brandy.

"What about Yoda?" 

"We're not sure. Again. And damn, I wish we were." Ben sighed and slouched down in his chair. "If Anakin is a battery cap, then Yoda is one of the poles. It's almost like he's pulling the Force to him, bodily, making it weaker for anyone who stays around him. Which is patently ridiculous."

"This whole thing is turning into a bad holonovel." Quinlan sighed heavily. "All right, back to that fucking prophecy. Where were we?"

"Born of the Force. That's pretty clear." Ben stretched his hands out above his head. "And the Force will fill him, yeah, it sure does with that midi-chlorian level. _And when in the course of his existence he shall gather unto him all that is Light and all that is Dark_ , well, that doesn't sound very pleasant, does it?"

"But what does it mean?" Quinlan scrunched up his face in thought. "Wait a minute. You said you saw him sort of a battery cap, a wire between two poles. Two poles meaning the Light and the Dark?"

"Yeah..." Ben said slowly.

" _Gather up all that is Light and Dark_. What are the two poles? Where do we find the Dark, or can we?"

"The Dark. The Sith?" Ben sat up and rubbed his chin. "The Sith isn't just _of_ the Dark, he represents the Dark?"

"If that's so, then who will represent the Light? I mean, I remember my basic Sith lessons, there are always two. And he's alone now, isn't he?"

"Unless Dooku is his new apprentice." 

Ben was really paying attention now and Quinlan felt like there was something, just out of his reach or around the bend, waiting for him to grab it.

"Regardless." Quinlan waved off that point. "There's one or two, maybe three, max. We hope. But the Light, on our side, we've got hordes of Jedi. We're all in the Light, even you two. We've always been that way."

"'I am vast and contain multitudes,'" Ben said softly, quoting something again. "Maybe Anakin is supposed to be the avatar of the Light?"

"No, I don't think so, that's not what the damn thing is saying." Quinlan shook his head. "That's not what _you've_ said. Anakin... he's going to bring balance. He's going to attach to the poles and bleed 'em if necessary, until they balance. Right?" Quinlan stared intently into Ben's face. Everything he'd said resonated, it sounded just so _right_ to him and he willed Ben to see it too.

"If that's so, then why would they need to be balanced?" Ben was obviously frustrated and Quinlan felt the same. "We've had decades without any Sith to bug us and we weren't unbalanced then! Is it just the mere presence of a Sith, someone who uses the Force instead of letting the Force guide him, is that all that's needed to get things out of balance?"

"Maybe." It didn't resonate as much as the other stuff had, though, Quinlan thought. "Before our new Sith appeared, who held the job and when? Was it Kun and Qel-Droma?"

"Uh... no. Hidden deep in the archives there's an account of a man who stole a great many texts on the Dark Side from the library. He had a high midi-chlorian count but had never gone to the Temple. Finally, several members of the Council went and ended him. He'd become a Sith and was using the Dark for political gains."

"How long ago was this?" Quinlan demanded. "I don't remember reading about this at all."

"'Bout a hundred twenty years, standard. Before then, there were other accounts of people who'd tried to use the Dark Side, but they were always promptly shut down by the Council. In secret. Which is why you didn't know about them." Ben glared down at the table between them. "I don't think the Council is ever going to realize that history is either studied or repeated."

Quinlan waved his hand. "Whatever, that's not germane. What I'm thinking is that the prophecy of the 'Chosen One' may have been fulfilled before now. How was Kun defeated?"

"You know how, it was a Jedi task force sent to Yavin." Ben turned his thunderous frown on Quinlan. "Why?"

"Because it wasn't just a task force, wasn't it? Qel-Droma finally wised up, turned against Kun and was instrumental in his death. I remember that from the stories we were told in the crèche." Ben started to speak, but Quinlan waved him silent. "And once I started learning about the Sith, I remember looking up Qel-Droma's midi-chlorian count and you know what? It was one of the highest ever recorded."

"You looked up Qel-Droma's midi-chlorian count?" Ben asked, incredulous. "What the hell for?"

"I was at that age, you know, we'd just been given our own counts and I wanted to compare." When Ben snorted in amusement, Quinlan continued, defensively, "Hey! I was just a youngling. Don't tell me you never compared your counts with your friends."

"I refuse to answer on the grounds it may incriminate me as being young and stupid," Ben said. He poured them both a measure of brandy, killing the first bottle. "Keep going."

"Going with what? I've already said it. Qel-Droma was the 'Chosen One' for his generation. And, if I recall properly, he was a foundling. Born of the Force?" Quinlan raised his eyebrow and took another sip of brandy. "There's never been another because the Council has shut every possible Sith down immediately. This one, for some reason, was better at hiding his proclivities and so managed to get farther." Quinlan frowned into his glass. "I wonder why he was better at hiding?" he muttered.

Ben shook his head, hard, then rubbed his forehead. "Moondrift. We can't know if it's happened before because it was too long ago. And that doesn't answer the question of how Anakin is supposed to balance anything that isn't out of balance."

"Not that you know of." 

Ben was quiet for quite a long time. "Not that we know of," he finally conceded.

* * *

As soon as they were within Coruscant's airspace, Quinlan put a call through to Bail. It was deep in the night and he wasn't surprised to find he'd woken the man up.

"Wha... Quin? What the hell--" It was a voice-only connection and Bail's sounded raspy.

"I know I've woken you and I'm sorry, Bail. But I need to speak with you, urgently," Quinlan said, pitching his voice low. He wondered if Breha were there. "It's Jedi business. I've just come back from a couple of places and need a Directed Authorization."

"At this hour? Quin, it's--"

"I know, and I am sorry. Bad guys don't follow timetables, I'm afraid."

"Bail?" He heard a soft, feminine voice and winced.

"Hold on, love. Quin, this can't wait another five hours 'til dawn?"

"No. It needs to be done now." Quinlan fought back an irrational surge of jealousy—he had no right to it, he wasn't Bail's lover, Breha was.

"All right. Where are you?"

"We're just landing at the Temple. I can be at your office in five minutes."

"Well, I can't. Give me twenty and I'll meet you there." The connection was cut and Quinlan sighed.

Suddenly Ben's hand was warm on his shoulder. "Thank you," Ben said. "I know how much this hurts you."

"Then don't ask me to do it any more," Quinlan said in a tired voice. "Are we down?"

"Yes. I'm heading for Yoda's. The swoop and the speeder are in the hold, feel free to use either."

Quinlan elected to use the speeder, and though he wasn't in any hurry, he left immediately. That just meant he had more than ten minutes in a parking slot to stew and think about what he and Ben had discussed on the way to Coruscant. The entire matter was confusing and unsolvable and he really wished for a nice, disgusting mission out on the Outer Rim somewhere where all he'd have to do is kill someone who deserved it. 

Instead, he was dragging his lover—his _ex_ -lover—out of bed in the middle of the night in order to make his life miserable. Life simply wasn't fair. In the back of his brain, he imagined he could hear the Force sniggering at him.

When he finally got to Bail's office, almost exactly twenty minutes had passed and the door was open. To Quinlan's enormous shock, Breha was sitting on the sofa in Bail's inner office. The surprise must have shown on his face because Bail's frown turned into a glare.

"It's extremely late, Knight Vos, so I would appreciate it if you would come to the point of your visit immediately."

"Uh..." Quinlan had no idea how to say it with any sort of diplomacy so he decided not to try. "This situation is... uh..."

"Then close the door. There is nothing you can say in front of me that you can't say in front of my wife." Except how much I love you, Quinlan said to himself. 

After closing the door, Quinlan went to stand before Bail's big desk. He stood at parade rest and did not ask for nor take a seat. "There are two things I must tell you, only one must result in a Directed Authorization. Which would you like to hear first?"

"Let's take the worst first, shall we?" Bail's voice sounded like he was speaking to a newshound or a lobbyist, not an old friend, and Quinlan's heart broke just a bit more.

"On a non-Republic world south of the Rishi Maze called Kamino, there is an army being cloned, forced into maturation and trained. The beings doing this work believe the Jedi authorized it. We suspect Dooku is behind it, but haven't had time to prove it. If it was Dooku, then he almost certainly did it for the Sith Master who is, we believe, attached to the Republic government in some capacity." 

Quinlan had known Bail Organa for a long, long time. In all that time, he'd never known Bail to show more than mild surprise. Either it was the news, the late hour or both, but Bail's face went as pale as his dark complexion could allow. When Bail licked his lips nervously, Quinlan noticed his hands were trembling.

"Please, define army."

"Upwards of five hundred thousand adult, human, male soldiers, forced into maturation and trained in the latest battle techniques. They are fully prepared for combat and their number is growing exponentially."

Behind him, Quinlan heard Breha gasp quietly. Well, that was Bail's problem. He shouldn't have let her come with him.

"And this is why you need the Directed Authorization for the Jedi to respond to this threat?"

"No, the reason for the DA is that the Trade Federation is using Geonosis droid foundries and are apparently working with the Separatists and several other agitators—possibly including the Sith—in building battle droids, against their restraining order." Quinlan still stood, unwilling to relax in Breha's presence. "At present, the man on whom the clones are based is on Geonosis. We have every reason to believe that if we don't move fast, the droids being built there will disappear into the dust of space." 

"And you don't need a DA to handle this horrific cloning operation?" Bail's voice was incredulous.

Stick to the facts, Bail, Quinlan thought. "No. The Kaminoans believe the Jedi authorized the army, therefore, the Jedi will handle the matter. Also, Kamino is not a Republic world and so we would not need authorization from the Senate to act."

"The situation on Geonosis is tied to the Kamino cloning operation." It wasn't a question but Quinlan treated it as such.

"We believe the Sith are involved heavily in both, yes." Bail and Quinlan locked gazes and Quinlan could almost see the gears shift in Bail's head.

"So you need a DA to punish the Trade Federation and you need it rammed through immediately, so that there will be no debate on the floor which would allow them to hide either the droids or the purchasers." Bail nodded slowly. "Does that sum it up?"

"Fairly well, though we are also hoping it will cut off any debate within the Jedi." 

Bail's eyes widened. "You're not here representing the Council? What the hell are you doing in my office, then?"

"Seeing to it that justice is served, Senator Organa." Quinlan's tone was as icy as Bail's had been incredulous. "You, of all people, know what we're up against. Just as not all of the Senate is on your side, not all of the Jedi are on ours. We, however, have a higher mandate and if it means acting without a Directed Authorization, then so be it."

Bail no longer had a pale face. He took a deep breath and held it before letting it out slowly; the entire time, he looked at Quinlan. "You and I are going to have a long, long talk about this, very soon," he growled. "Fine. Evidence?"

Bail held out his hand and Quinlan tossed him the datacube with the scans from Geonosis, unwilling to approach closer or, Force forbid, touch the man.

"Right." Bail loaded the cube into his dataset. "Please wait while I wake up some other people and have them join in this lunacy."

Quinlan had no intentions of even staying in the room, but couldn't figure out how to leave gracefully. Bail immediately got on the comm so he couldn't say anything. Then there was a gentle touch on his sleeve. "Knight Vos, allow me to serve you something while we wait."

It was Breha. She was dressed in a simple tunic of dark blue and her hair was loose. For the life of him, Quinlan had no idea why Bail had allowed her to accompany him. "My thanks, m'lady, but..."

"It's late. I have the feeling that this may go on for a while and I hate to see you uncomfortable while you wait." She looked down and her face held a mocking half-smile. "More uncomfortable, I mean."

Quinlan was staggered. She _knew_? "I..."

"It's quite all right, Knight Vos. Come sit down, please. I set tea to brewing just before you walked in. It should be ready now." She turned and Quinlan followed her, unable to pull back.

He sat in the same chair Bail had what felt like a lifetime ago, when all of this had started, and she brought a tea service to the table between the chair and sofa. She even poured for him. Quinlan hated tea, but he took a sip. Behind him, he heard Bail on the comm arguing with someone.

"The news you bring is frightening," she said. 

Quinlan forced himself to look up. to actually see her. She wasn't a pretty woman -- her nose was too long and her chin too square. But he could see where she would be considered beautiful, with her large, dark eyes and high cheekbones. And stubborn, he could see where she wouldn't back down easily, on anything.

"To say truth, it frightens me as well, m'lady."

"Please. Call me Breha. I know we haven't met..." She took a sip of her tea. "Bail speaks of you often."

"I'm sure as often as he speaks of you." Quinlan wasn't a master of diplomacy; that had always been the purview of other Jedi. He was more rough and tumble, more up for a stint undercover dealing with people of dubious morals. He hated having to be nice and hide his true feelings, so it was with great trepidation that he spoke with Breha Organa.

"I'm sure not in the same vein," she murmured, sipping her tea. "He's missed you, Knight Vos. Many times before you came back in his life he'd mentioned how much he'd like to have had your opinion on something or other." She wouldn't look up as she spoke. "You're good for him, I think. I'm glad you're back in his life again."

"M'la... I mean..." 

"It's all right. It really is." She put her cup and saucer on the table and finally looked up at Quinlan. Behind him, he could hear Bail still arguing. "I'm not your rival, Knight Vos. We both love him and that's as it should be; he's an easy person to love. He seems strong and unflappable, but in certain things, he's vulnerable. One of those is where his heart lies. Did you know we both have fairly high midi-chlorian counts?"

It was an abrupt left turn and it startled Quinlan.

"Oh, not high enough to be sent to the Temple, but still reasonably high. Though he would never admit it, in his heart, Bail wishes he were a Jedi. Failing that, he wants younglings, or at least one, who can go to the Temple so he can live vicariously through him. Or her." She smiled sadly at him. "I can't say I'm sure I want the same, but I am sure I want younglings. I just wish..."

Had a bantha walked through the doorway and asked for a mug of ale, Quinlan wouldn't have been more surprised. Bail wanted to be a Jedi? So many things fell into place with that revelation and Quinlan wondered why he'd never noticed it before. Of course he wanted to be a Jedi. And of course he wanted younglings, and if one of them was chosen, well, that would be the ultimate in compliments.

He raised his eyes and finally met Breha's gaze. She still had that sad smile on her face and her eyes were heavy with regrets and pain. "I am... I am so sorry," he said, his voice low. "So very sorry."

"Thank you." She swallowed hard, as if pushing a lump out of her throat. "I'm glad you're here for him, Knight Vos. I needed you to know that. There's nothing wrong in both of us loving him."

"Love doesn't subtract," he muttered, remembering Ben's enigmatic words. Quinlan had to open and close his mouth a couple of times before further words would come, but eventually, they did. "Please, call me Quinlan."

* * *

After a certain amount of debate from the people woken by Bail, the matter was remanded to the Senate's External Security sub-committee which only needed fifteen members to have a quorum. Bail first talked to all the loyalists and got them on their way before issuing a perfunctory invitation to the others on the committee. Therefore, at about an hour before any part of the Senate would be routinely moving, Bail and Quinlan were in the small conference room facing seventeen members of the External Security Sub-Committee, ten of whom were considered to be loyal to the Jedi. Mon Mothma chaired the committee and led Quinlan's interview.

Unfortunately, halfway through the session, before they'd come to a vote, the Supreme Chancellor walked in. He was perfectly dressed and affable as always, but Quinlan saw the steel behind his guileless eyes. 

"So terribly sorry to be late," he said as he entered. Mon Mothma's smile was a thin line as she gave up the chair to him. "Now. The situation appears to be centralized on Geonosis?" 

Everyone was made to wait while he was briefed and Quinlan was certain he was playing for time, hoping that more of the committee would trickle in before the vote was held. Palpatine asked shrewd questions but took his answers at face value, leaving Quinlan suspicious. Then again, he just disliked Palpatine.

Finally, the Chancellor seemed to give up. "I see no reason why this Directed Authorization should not go through," he said and Quinlan could see both Bail and Mon Mothma were instantly on edge. "However, I would like to know more about the situation on Kamino. What little I've heard gives me pause and I can't help but wonder why the Jedi have not approached the Senate on the matter."

Quinlan wanted very badly to look at Bail for guidance, but knew he couldn't. He also couldn't show any emotion, not and escape with his life—much less his dignity—intact. How did Palpatine learn about the cloning operation?

"Since the situation you refer to is occurring outside the jurisdiction of the Republic, I believe the Council is taking the matter under advisement," he said, his voice carefully neutral. They can smell fear, he thought to himself. "I will be happy to relay any concerns you may have to the Council, your Excellency."

"What situation?" The speaker was a senator Quinlan didn’t recognize and his voice was just peevish enough to set Quinlan's teeth on edge. "I've never heard of this place!"

"I've been advised of an extensive cloning operation on this planet, Kamino?" Palpatine looked up at Quinlan and Quinlan felt a cold chill down his spine. "I believe you were there yourself, Master Jedi. Is this not so?"

 _How did he get this data_?! Quinlan would have liked to scream that aloud but couldn't. "Yes, your Excellency, I was."

"Cloning is illegal in the Republic." Giddean Danu was the speaker and he had his eyes focused on the table in front of him.

"Kamino is not a member of the Republic," Quinlan replied. In for a credit, he thought. "The Jedi Council is investigating the situation since the natives believe they have been working directly for the Council."

"Ah, I see." Palpatine was the soul of affability—until you looked into his eyes. "And this is not the case?"

Quinlan kept himself from bristling, but it was a near thing. "No, of course not. The Jedi follow the laws of the Republic in all things. And there are other reasons to abhor cloning, unrelated to whether or not it is legal... such as moral or ethical questions." Like it's creating inhuman, soulless automatons, he snarled in his head.

"Yes, of course. The Jedi well understand morals and ethics, I've no doubt. However, I am interested in this cloning operation. With the Separatists becoming more of a problem every day, the Republic will need every resource possible, should the unthinkable occur."

The silence in the room was deafening. Even if he knew what to say, Quinlan couldn't have said it.

Finally, Mon Mothma spoke. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself, your Excellency." Her voice was soft and hard, like a cotton-wrapped steel spike. "I do not see where we should presume the Separatist movement will lead us to rash decisions or actions."

Palpatine spread his hands. "Of course not. I was merely being open to all our options. I'm certain even the Master Jedi here understands the need for options." He smiled. "I simply don't want to act... rashly," he finished, with an oily smile to Mon Mothma. "Perhaps the Jedi Council will give this sub-committee a report on their findings and the usefulness of same. Please, extend that thought to your superiors, Master Jedi."

Yeah, diplomacy sucked. Quinlan plastered a smile on his face and exchanged murmured pleasantries with those who spoke to him as they left the room. Palpatine was a gracious mynock, speaking to everyone and saying absolutely nothing. Finally, it was just Bail and Quinlan.

Grabbing Bail's arm, Quinlan hissed, "How did he know? How did he get that information?"

Bail shook off the hold and Quinlan could tell he was blazingly furious. "I don't know!" He snarled. 

"Did you share that cube with anyone? Did you broadcast it?"

"No!" Rounding on Quinlan, Bail got right in his face. "And I don't like the fact that you're--"

"Bail!" Their voices were as quiet as shouts could be made. Quinlan grabbed Bail's shoulders. "I'm _not_! Listen to me! Did you share that cube with anyone?" He punctuated every word with a small shake.

"No! I just told--" Bail cut himself off and the blood drained from his face. "No. I didn't."

"Right." Quinlan glared at Bail, willing him to _see_. "You didn't. That means..."

"Sweet gods." Quinlan could tell Bail was putting it all together and not liking the sum at all. "We're going to have to find a pl--"

"Not here." Quinlan glanced around; they were the only ones in the empty conference room. "But yes. You're going to have to."

Bail licked his lips and Quinlan could feel him try to get his emotions in check. "I'll need to find a way to alert the others." After another moment, he said, "Breha. Senatorial spouses can often go places and do things without notice. Then we'll have to find a place, somewhere."

"I might be able to help with that." The room felt far too close. "We need to leave. I need to get back to the Temple with the Authorization."

Bail handed him the datacube with the Republic Seal on it. "Here. Good luck."

"I think I'm going to need it."

Why were politics so damn _hard_?

* * *

Ben met him at the pad when he returned the speeder to the _Hope_. "Windu is pissy, Yoda is ill and Mundi is trying to postpone everything," he reported. 

"Yoda is ill?" With Ben's help Quinlan redocked the speeder. "With what?"

"I don't know, I don't know if it's even illness, and I don't like it. He's locked himself away and is not talking to anyone and Windu is on the verge of taking over the Council." Ben ran his hands through his hair. "And for the life of me, I can't think why that would be a bad idea. At least Windu speaks Basic."

"Well, I've got the DA right here," Quinlan said, patting his utility belt. "Let's go give them the bad news."

Seven Council members were in attendance, including Adi. Windu and Mundi were arguing as Ben and Quinlan entered the room. Ben had already given them the information on Geonosis and it sounded to Quinlan that Mundi was trying to get out of doing anything. 

"This is a Republic security matter," he was saying as Ben and Quinlan walked in. "I don't see how..."

"I have a Directed Authorization from the External Security Subcommittee right here," Quinlan said, waving the cube in the air and cutting Mundi off. "They are asking the Jedi to handle the problem."

Mundi turned and glared at Quinlan, who shrugged. "Will of the Force," he said, aware that beside him, Ben was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"Right." Windu cut to the chase. "We've got the Senate's authority and the sooner we act, the better. Issue a general recall to this Geonosis place. I need to know how many active knights and masters are in-Temple and how many transports are available. Senior padawans only. Master Billaba, will you and Master Koth please handle the muster?" He looked around at his co-Councilors. "While this may be nothing more than a routine mission, we could run into trouble." He rounded on Ben. "Have you heard anything from... from your partner?"

"Last check-in was two hours ago and he reported no new activity," Ben replied in a bland voice. Quinlan frowned; didn't the entire Council know about Kellin?

"Fine. Assemble the troops. We depart in five hours." 

Well, that was certainly decisive. Quinlan stood aside to let the Councilors leave the room before following them out with Ben. "Get Aayla," Ben said softly. "Tholme should be on the _Hope_ already and Adi will be on her way after issuing the recall. We can leave as soon as you two are onboard."

Quinlan nodded and took off down the corridors at a brisk pace. It was early still, but Aayla had always been an early riser so he expected to see her meditating before breakfast, and he was right. 

She was in lotus with her back to their large window, through which sunlight was pouring, outlining her. Her eyes were closed and her palms were open on her knees and she radiated peace the way the sun radiated light. She was so beautiful and so firmly in the Light that Quinlan choked up. It amazed him that he could have instructed such a perfect Jedi—a perfect _person_ —as she was, as she would continue to be.

Quietly, he knelt before her, closing his eyes against the glare and letting his aura gently merge with hers to bring her up out of her trance. They opened their eyes at the same instant.

"Master!" she said with a grin.

"Padawan," he acknowledged. "We've got ourselves a mission, Bluey. Right now. Think you can pack in five minutes?"

"A mission? A mission!" She bounced to her feet and Quinlan followed her up. "Yes! More time to study before my astromech exam! Tunics, or do I have to be a slave girl again?"

"Tunics, Padawan. And make sure your 'saber is in good working order. And, you're in luck, you pretty blue girl you, because we'll be riding with Ben on his gorgeous ship. Since he's almost as good at astromech as Anakin is, you should be able to study more on the trip there and back."

"Wizard!" She gave him a fast hug and raced into her bedroom.

"You've been hanging out with Anakin too much," Quinlan muttered with a rueful grin.

It took them a bit more than five minutes, but the _Hope_ was still the first ship to leave the Temple pad. The ship was spacious enough that each one of them—Adi Gallia, Tholme, Quinlan, Aayla and Ben—each had their own cabin. They could have easily fit two or three more on the ship, but when Quinlan mentioned that, Ben shook his head. "We're going to be rendezvousing with Kellin," he explained. "And we're still keeping his presence a secret."

"Yeah, I meant to ask you that," Quinlan said. "Even from the Council?"

"Only a few of them know, Quin. Adi, Yoda, Mace. I think Depa and Eeth have suspicions, but they're too closed-mouth to say anything."

They were sitting in the control room, and Ben had just put them into hyperspace. There was paranoia and then there was paranoia, it seemed. "Huh." Quinlan let that interesting revelation percolate through his gray matter for a few moments. Then he remembered something Aayla had said. "By the way, did you know my padawan--" Quinlan began.

"Is a genius, yes, you've told me that before," Ben laughed.

"More than that, she's figured out who your partner is. Without even being specifically told you _have_ a partner. It's that lover's bond thing." Quinlan couldn't help smirking at the look of surprise on Ben's face. "And she also needs study help on her astromech exam, which was due to be taken tomorrow, but which now is postponed. To her delight, I might add. I told her you'd help her study."

Ben sighed and shook his head. "The things you get me into," he said with a chuckle.

* * *

Ben liked Padawan Aayla Secura. She had a bright, sunny aura, and a genuine caring for everyone around her. She was far more intelligent than she liked to admit (or even as her master boasted) and would do fine in her astromech exam, but was nervous enough about it to constantly look for guidance.

"I'm simply not mechanically inclined," she said with a sigh. "Anakin's been helping me, but he's not always consistent. And lately..." She rolled her eyes. "Lately it's all been mooning over the Senator. I'm happy he's with her now. Do you think it'll get serious?" She gave Ben a wide-eyed stare. "I mean, I think he's expecting to live with her, to maybe _marry_ her. And that's not allowed." She sighed.

"I don't know what's going to happen, Padawan," Ben said. "But I can tell you one thing: if they're meant to be together, then all the rules in the universe won't stop them." As he spoke, he tasted the currents of the Force and realized that yes, something was definitely up with Anakin and Padme, just as Quinlan had thought.

As Adi Gallia was also on the ship, Ben was able to corner her and discuss the situation—not that she was very comfortable with it. "I don't know what kind of bond it is," she said with a sigh as Ben poured her a cup of tea. "I don't even know how it came about."

"Is she Force-sensitive?" Ben asked with a frown. He cast his mind back to the few times he'd been with Amidala, most of which were during the siege of Naboo.

"Well, yes, though I doubt she's got a high enough midi-chlorian count to be a Jedi." She sipped her tea. "She must have a fairly good rating, I would think, given what she was able to do almost as a youngling."

Ben nodded slowly, remembering the young queen's feats. It made sense, he supposed. "But why in the Force would they be sharing a bond?"

"I wish I knew." Adi looked into her teacup. "I've become very fond of the padawan you asked me to train, Ben. He has a lot of demons chasing him and I've struggled to keep his footsteps in the Light. I think I've succeeded, I hope I've succeeded, because there's something deep inside me that says he's going to be far more important than any ridiculous 'prophecy' could predict."

"That's assuming we understand what that ridiculous prophecy means," Ben replied and she nodded, wearily.

The _Hope_ arrived back at Geonosis in good time, well before the task force. Kellin had been sitting on a particularly large chunk of debris from the accretion ring and mapping the hell out of the planet below. He'd pinpointed all the spots where it looked like the foundries were amassing their product and had found three shipyards, one of which was obviously made up of mostly Trade Federation destroyers. While there hadn't been a lot of movement before they arrived, it was obvious some ramping-up was going on and it looked as though the ships might be lifting any moment.

"If you hadn't gotten here, I would have had to go down myself," Kellin told them as he re-boarded the _Hope_ and as Ben wrapped himself around his mate. 

"And if you had gone down there alone, I would have had to follow you to kill you," Ben replied.

Kellin chuckled, even as he tried to make like a Klein bottle and erase any surface difference between himself and Ben. "You couldn't kill me, you love me too much."

"Torture you then. I think you're familiar with Padawan Aayla Secura." He turned to the wide-eyed padawan. "This is my mate, Aayla, Kellin Quenn."

"Wow." Kellin and Ben shared a humorous glance. "You look really different, I mean really different, more even than when Master Sticky-pants and I have to go undercover as a master and slave. Wow."

"Master Sticky-pants?" Everyone in the room save for Aayla and Tholme turned to look at Quinlan, but Ben gave voice to their amusement.

Quinlan sighed and cast his eyes heavenward. "It wasn't enough to give me a beautiful and genius padawan, Force, oh, no, you had to go and make her sarcastic and disrespectful, too."

"Then she takes after you, Padawan," Tholme said in his usual gentle, dry voice. "We need to lay plans, brothers and sisters, in the scant hours before others arrive. Shall we sit?"

It didn't take them long to set their plans down. The scans Kellin had taken pinpointed the most likely places for problems as well as what passed for a capital on the barren, dry world. "Mace should take the first wave here," Kellin said, pointing to an area near what looked to be a decrepit arena. "The being who calls himself Archduke Poggle is nominally in charge of the planet, though that's mainly through intimidation. Once he's down, the internecine squabbling will occupy them thoroughly."

"Where's Dooku?" It was Quinlan who asked and Ben silently thanked him; he hadn't wanted to broach the subject.

Kellin sighed. "Here, I think." He pointed to an area where scans showed partially-submerged ships. "This is where the Trade Federation destroyers are massed, and it's where there's been a lot of activity. We can't go down alone, but I don't want to give them the chance to escape...”

The Force almost literally goosed Ben at Kellin’s words. “They’re going to. Leave, I mean. One of us needs to get down there…”

“No, we need to go to Kamino,” Kellin said, almost before Ben stopped talking. “Quin. Get down there, see if you can force some delay until Anakin and his senator get here.”

“Anakin?!” Adi said, even as everyone in the room began talking.

“No time. Quin, we’ll take your corvette. Adi, keep Anakin from doing anything rash.” Ben couldn’t keep the fierce grin from his face as he bolted away from several thousand questions and made for the corvette, his mate hot on his heels.

* * *

Adi Gallia cared deeply for her Padawan—one could almost say she loved him like a son. But when a little over two hours after Ben and Kellin left he showed up at Geonosis in a Nubian cruiser with Senator Amidala in tow, well, she felt like throwing a very un-Jedi-like tantrum. “Padawan…” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Master Jedi, it wasn’t up to Anakin,” the Senator interrupted her. “We were on Tatooine when the recall order was given and I made the decision to come directly here as a representative of the Senate. I didn’t give Ani a choice in the matter.”

“Senator, you should not even _be_ here,” Adi said. “We have a Directed Authorization from the Senate to handle it—“ Adi interrupted herself. “What were you doing on Tatooine? _Anakin_ …” She rubbed her forehead where a headache was blooming.

“I’m sorry Master,” Anakin said. “But I had to go. I had a horrible premonition about Mom, and it was true, she’d been taken by Tusken raiders.”

“I went with him when he explained how he had to go,” Padme said. “I could get him a ship.”

“But I was too late—“ Anakin began and Padme cut him off.

“She’d already been rescued, but she had been terribly hurt.”

“She’ll be okay eventually, but then we got the general recall and came here.”

“You had a mission, Padawan,” Adi said, as angry as she would allow herself to get. She had a good idea who had rescued Shmi Skywalker and she wished they had warned her. “Your mandate is to protect the Senator.”

“And he’s fulfilling that mandate, Master Jedi,” Padme said firmly. “I’m on the Jedi oversight committee and as such it’s _my_ mission to oversee Jedi affairs. Now, please, brief me on the situation here.”

The headache was full-on migraine strength, and Adi had to close her eyes and breathe deeply to release her frustration to the Force. As she did, she heard Master Tholme’s gentle voice as he explained what had been happening to her Padawan and the senator.

“Aayla is down there?!” Anakin stood from his seat at the small table. “No! Master, we need—“

“ _You_ need to sit down and stay put, Padawan,” Adi said firmly. “I’m sure Master Vos and his Padawan have things well in hand.”

“They missed their last check-in,” Tholme said mildly, then raised an eyebrow at her glare. “Though there is evidence of explosions at two of the droid foundries.”

“Master…” Anakin pleaded.

Taking another deep breath, Adi tried to ground and center, to determine her path. Unfortunately her path was quite clear. “Fine. Padawan, you and I will go down in the Nubian cruiser. Senator, you will stay here with Master Tholme. We will check in as soon as were down. The task force should be here within the hour, ping us when they arrive. Padawan, you’re with me.”

Adi had such a bad feeling about the whole situation.

* * *

Quinlan Vos was having a bad day.

He and Aayla had split up upon arrival and headed for different foundries, intent on making a little mayhem to slow things down. They each had enough explosives to stop an army, and Quin wasted no time in setting charges. But when he tried to break into the shipyard where the Trade Federation destroyers were docked, he was caught and swarmed under.

Now he floated in a mag prison in a rock-walled room, hoping against hope that Aayla was still free. They had missed their last check-in, but Quin was under no illusion that rescue would come before the task force got there.

Then Dooku walked in and his day went from bad to worse.

Dooku just stared at him for a while without speaking. Quin refused to be the first to talk. Eventually, Dooku said, “Quinlan Vos. What would a Jedi master of your rank be doing on Geonosis?”

“Oh, just passing by,” Quinlan replied, not bothering to soften his tone. “Tailing a bounty hunter named Fett. Know him?”

“Can’t say as I do,” Dooku replied. His polished voice was bland. “The Geonosisians don’t like bounty hunters. I’d be surprised if he were here.”

“Oh, he’s here.”

“If you say so.” Dooku walked around Quin. “I’ve followed your career with interest, Master Vos. You’ve been spoken of highly in certain circles.”

“Gratifying to know.”

Dooku half-smirked. “My former apprentice always spoke well of you. Then again you are of a similar type to him—headstrong and strong in the Force.” Dooku sighed and it sounded genuinely sad. “Would that he were still alive. I could use Qui-Gon’s advice.”

“I can arrange that meeting,” Quin said, and Dooku smiled bitterly.

“I’m afraid killing me would do you little good, Master Vos. The rot in the Senate is what you should be focusing on, not me.”

“Pray tell, what rot is that?”

Dooku stared at him. “Would it surprise you to know that a Sith master has virtual control over the Republic?” When Quin showed no emotion, he continued. “No? Well, it’s true. Hundreds, if not thousands, of senators are under the direct control of a Sith master named Darth Sidious.”

“You or your master?” Quin asked, refusing to show any reaction. So their worst fears were true, then. But who was it? Clearly not Dooku.

“Feh. I don’t know what I expected. The Council has everyone firmly convinced of their omniscience. It’s misplaced. But neither you nor your lovely apprentice will live long enough to discover how true my warnings are.” Quin must have let something show because Dooku chuckled. “Oh, yes, the Geonosisians are very unhappy with the havoc you two have wrought. I’m afraid I would be unable to intervene. You’re to go to their arena.” As he left the room, Dooku said over his shoulder, “do give my regards to Qui-Gon when you see him in the Force.”

“Well, shit,” Quinlan muttered.

* * *

For all their technological prowess at making droids and battleships, the Geonosisians were remarkably primitive. A security detail took Quin to an arena that was packed to the gills with the winged beings. There, he was chained to a post next to his Padawan, who gave him a sour look as the guards retreated.

“The things you get me into, Master,” she said.

“Just tell me you’ve got your lock picks on you still.”

“Of course. What—Anakin!?”

Another cart was making its way out to the center of the arena, and in it was Anakin Skywalker.

“I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not,” Quinlan said. “What are you doing here, Padawan?”

“Well, uh, rescuing you,” Anakin replied as his hands were chained up. The wagon retreated.

“Good job,” Quin said, heavy on the sarcasm.

“Master Adi is still free,” Anakin said defensively. “And the task force should be here at any moment.”

Aayla, busy picking the lock to her cuffs, said, “they can’t get here too soon. Look. I think those are for us.”

Across the sands of the arena, droids and Geonosisians were herding three ugly beasts, all of which looked ravenous.

Aayla levitated the lock picks to Quin. “I’m going up.” She suited action to words by climbing the pillar she had been chained to.

As Quin hurriedly used the lock picks, he saw Adi emerge from the shadows of the dais where Dooku, Nute Gunray, Fett, Poggle, and other important twits were standing, watching. Good—if she felt stable enough to beard Dooku, then the task force must have arrived. Now they just needed to stay alive long enough for rescue.

* * *

They redlined the engines of the little corvette all the way to Kamino, taking turns resting or meditating. The Force told them they were running out of time. Even without the Force’s warning, Kellin’s mapping and scans of Geonosis pointed to the truth—the Jedi task force would not be equal to the droid armada on the planet. They would need help.

The Kaminoans were gracious and accommodating. “Of course, if you’re here on behalf of the Jedi Council we will see to any of your requests,” Lama Su said. “Master Vos explained that Master Syfo-Dyas has died; do you represent the Jedi?”

They looked at each other briefly. “Yes,” Kellin said. “In fact, we need several battalions to come to the aid of the Jedi Council on a planet known as Geonosis. Can you accommodate that request? It is of the utmost urgency.”

Lama Su reared back. “Of course. We have fifty battalions of six hundred sixty-one units each, fully programmed, with all the attendant equipment including transport. Would that be sufficient? Any more would require more time but it is possible.”

“Fully programmed, you say?” Ben asked delicately. “We have no records from Master Syfo-Dyas of the programming he ordered. Would it be possible to have a datacube of the programming specs for our records?”

Lama Su waved his head gently, and they got the impression he was showing humor. “A single datacube? No. But we can give you a summary of the programming on, say, approximately fifty datacubes. There are exabytes of data in the programming Ser Jedi. I thought you were aware of that?”

Once again, they glanced at each other, and Ben was aware of the Force jangling a warning in the back of his head. “Master Syfo-Dyas died before he was able to complete his documentation of this project,” Ben said carefully. “So, no, we do not have a complete understanding of the programming. How long would it take for a summary to be prepared?”

“Perhaps an hour. It will take that long to load the units onto transports anyway. Longer if you wish more units.” Lama Su looked between them. “Who among the Jedi would be given the permissions to change the programming? In the past, we understood it to be Master Syfo-Dyas and a Master Yoda. Would that still be correct?”

“No,” Kellin said shortly. “From this point on, only Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Master Obi-Wan Kenobi have permission to alter the programming or the right to make new decisions. How many… units do you have finished at present?”

“One hundred thousand battle ready, matured units are ready. Another five hundred thousand are in the process of maturation and programming, and five hundred thousand are in the artificial wombs. Is that sufficient? We can have another five hundred thousand created once the units are decanted, but that will require an additional payment.”

“No, that’s sufficient for now,” Ben said, glad Lama Su couldn’t pick up on his distaste. The whole situation was untenable. “Please suspend operations after the decanting of the last batch. We will contact you once we have gone over the programming if we have any changes. Is it easy to reprogram the… units even after maturation?”

“Oh, yes, they were designed that way. It is our specialty. Now I must leave you to see to their readiness. My assistant will see to any needs you have.” Lama Su bowed and left the room.

Ben rounded on Kellin. “This _has_ to have been arranged by the Sith, and the fact that Fett went to ground with Dooku on Geonosis means Dooku’s in it up to his eyeballs.”

“I don’t think he’s the Sith master, though,” Kellin said, watching his mate restlessly pace. “He may be the new apprentice.” 

“Then who? Who could have arranged this…” Ben was interrupted by Lama Su’s assistant coming into the room and their discussion was tabled.

* * *

Ben, Kellin and their battalions barely made it back to Geonosis on time. Their foreboding that the task force would not be sufficient to take on the battle droids was correct, and the arena where master Tholme directed them was a mass of injured and dead knights, masters and padawans.

But the droids proved to be no match for the clones. Kellin directed the clones to create a perimeter around the survivors even as Ben’s gunship landed in the thick of things. Windu, Mundi, Adi and Quinlan were on the outer ring of Masters, protecting padawans. The clones began cutting down whole sections of droid destroyers all around them.

“You’re late,” Quinlan snarled at Ben. He stood back to back with his Padawan.

“Sorry, got here as quick as we could. You seen Dooku?”

“He’s up there with Fett and that gundark Gunray.” Quinlan was out of breath even as he continued to snap blaster bolts back to their origin.

“Let the clones mop up here,” Ben said, half his attention on the battle. “We need those three.”

“Dooku knows who the Sith master is,” Quinlan yelled, even as he grabbed Aayla and followed Ben to an open gunship.

“Then we need him even more,” Ben shouted over the din of battle.

The clones covered them until they were on the transport, fanning out and helping other Jedi too wounded to move on their own. They may have been an abomination, Ben thought absently, but they were certainly useful. It was chaotic, but somehow, they managed to get to the dais where Dooku and company had been—only to find it empty. While Quinlan swore in several languages, Ben got on the comm.

“Kellin is going after Gunray and his ships; Adi and Anakin have spotted Dooku headed east and are in pursuit. Come on.”

It took precious time they didn’t have to follow Adi and Anakin to what looked like a well-hidden cavern in the middle of nowhere. Ben could feel Dooku inside, as well as Anakin and Adi. They ran into the large room where a small ship was docked in time to see Dooku overpower Adi and blast Anakin with a bolt of lightning.

“Anakin!” Aayla screamed as she ran to her friend. Ben and Quinlan faced off against Dooku.

Dooku stared at Ben. “Obi-Wan Kenobi? I thought you dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Ben took a ready stance next to Quinlan. “You’ve caused a lot of death today Dooku. I hope you’re happy.”

“Happy? No. I gave them the option to surrender and live, they chose unwisely.” He looked gravely at Ben and Quinlan, who Ben could tell was releasing fury to the Force. “As you are.”

Dooku shot lightning from his hands at Ben, Ben caught it easily with his ‘saber. “Your light show won’t work with me, I’m afraid. You may be a Sith now, but—“

“A Sith?” Dooku lit his ‘saber but didn’t advance. “Who ever said I was a Sith?”

“You’re in league with the Sith master,” Quinlan spat. “Don’t deny it.”

“I have always looked out for the benefit of the Republic,” Dooku said piously. “Everything I have done, I’ve done for that purpose. If you doubt that, then you are a fool.”

“Hard to see, the dark side is,” said a voice from behind them—Kellin. “Take you over it does.”

Dooku froze and blanched as Kellin came fully into the room. “No. You’re dead. This is some kind of a trick.”

“Rumors of my demise, etc.,” Kellin said. “Sorry, no trick. You’ve allowed the Dark Side to corrupt you, Dooku. It’s time to return to the Light.”

“I never left it!” Dooku shouted, clearly agitated. “Everything I’ve done has been in service to the Force—the Council is as corrupt as the Senate is and would never have listened! They let you die at the hands of the Sith rather than believe you!”

Ben looked at Kellin, but the man was completely focused on Dooku. Aayla was over in a corner, guarding an unconscious Anakin and Adi. Kellin continued, his voice persuasive.

“That’s partly true, I won’t deny the Council is full of hidebound old fools. But you _are_ a Sith now, Dooku, from your ‘saber to your toes. What did your master promise you? Did he tell you you could be the savior of the Republic? He lied, Master.”

Dooku was shaking his head and Ben could feel his confusion and pain roil the room. “No. No!”

Abruptly, he shot Force lightning from his hands at Kellin, who caught it easily in one hand. “We’ve studied the Dark too, Dooku. The difference is we haven’t let it ruin us.”

“You’re not... how is this possible?” Dooku began backing up even as Kellin slowly advanced on him. “I serve the Force!”

“You serve the Sith Master, Dooku. Wake up.”

“Master! Look out!” At Aayla’s warning, they turned to see Fett’s ship just off the cave mouth. It launched a barrage that all three of them were hard pressed to return before it reversed and flew away.

That diversion was all Dooku needed. Before any of them could move, he was aboard his ship and it was launching.

“I’ll get the clones to blast him,” Ben said, but Kellin stopped him from reaching for his comm unit.

“No. Let him go.”

“Let him go?!” Quin roared. “That piece of shit has Jedi blood on his hands! We can’t let him go!”

“Sorry Quinlan, but he has a role to play still. As does Fett, I think.” Kellin looked sad. “Killing him won’t bring back those we’ve lost.”

“Maybe not, but it’ll make me feel a lot better!” Quinlan stalked over to the corner to see to Adi and Anakin. Ben exchanged a long look with Kellin, then followed Quin. Kellin left for his gunship.

* * *

Over Adi’s objections, Ben put Anakin with Padme on the Nubian cruiser and pointed it back to Naboo. They were all fairly certain the attempt on Padme Amidala’s life wouldn’t be repeated; there were reports that certain members of the Senate had completely pulled out of the Republic and left Coruscant. So they told her she could returned to Coruscant with Anakin once she had picked up a security detail on Naboo.

Adi’s objections had to do with the lover’s bond they all felt was stronger between the Senator and Anakin, but Ben overruled her. The bond was the will of the Force, even if they didn’t understand it.

Back aboard the _Hope_ , they set off for home and Adi cornered Kellin. “Why did you let that gundark go?” she demanded. “If I had been able, I would have been with Quin and killed him! He massacred us on the sands at Geonosis, Qui-Gon. You had no right—“

“Stand down, Councilor,” Kellin said coldly. “And my name is Kellin Quenn to you and I’ll thank you not to make that mistake again, especially in front of your Padawan.”

“Why?!” Adi closed her eyes and breathed deeply. When she opened them, she felt much calmer. “Why?” She repeated. “Dooku knows you’re alive, Kellin, which means the master—whoever he or she is—will also know. We know. Why not Anakin?”

“I have my reasons,” Kellin said, then held up his hand when she would have continued. “Please, trust me. There are things we know, things we’ve guessed, and things we merely suspect. But I tell you truly that Anakin—and his Senator—will be important in the years to come.”

“I trust you, _Kellin_ ,” Adi said with a sigh. “But I also learned on my Master’s knee to always cut the cards, even if you trust the dealer.”

“What of the clones?” Master Tholme said, hard on the heels of her words. “Who is going to take command of them?”

“At the moment, the Jedi will command them. I don’t doubt the Chancellor will try to get his paws on them for the war that’s coming.” At Aayla’s distressed noise, Kellin continued. “Sorry, Padawan, but with the secession of the Trade Federation, Techno Union, and Banking Clan, others will follow and we’re looking at outright war. It’s one reason why we need Senator Amidala back on Coruscant, she’s a loyalist and we’ll need her voice.”

“Whoever the Sith Master is, he or she is controlling the Chancellor,” Quinlan said, his voice sour, “unless the Master _is_ the Chancellor.”

Ben looked at Kellin at Quinlan’s half-facetious words, but neither said anything, even though Ben had his suspicions.

“In the meantime,” Ben said, “we have work for the Temple slicers. We have fifty-three datacubes with a resume of the clone programming and it needs to be gone over with a fine-toothed comb. Adi, will you oversee that project?”

* * *

Dooku seethed all the way back to Coruscant. Qui-Gon alive? How was it possible? And he was so much stronger in the Force as well. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to do the things he had done, but he had. Dooku had some thinking to do and he needed to do it away from the influence of Master Sidious.

During the trip, he made copies of the death Star plans and all information he had on the clones. He then secreted them on his ship. He wasn’t certain why he was doing it, but it felt important to have the backups.

Once back on Coruscant, he was met with a coded message to meet with Darth Sidious in the manufacturing district, in a hangar he had used before. He found Fett had beaten him there and grimaced in distaste—he didn’t like the bounty hunter even as he recognized his usefulness.

“Lord Tyranus. I understand there was some difficulty getting off Geonosis for you.”

Dooku bowed. “Jango Fett’s interference was timely, Darth Sidious. I’m afraid I have partially failed you; the Jedi have control of the clone army.”

“It is of no import,” Sidious replied. They turned and walked toward the conference room. Sidious always kept his hood up as though it would prevent Dooku from seeing who he really was. “There is a poisoned tooth in the mouth of that tool, one the Jedi will come to regret. And I still have hope that I will be able to take over command of the clone troops. Now that war has begun, it may be easier to achieve.”

“The Force is with us, my Master,” Dooku said, shoving his fear and distaste deeply inside.

* * *

Yoda was still in seclusion when they all returned from Geonosis. Windu met with Ben and Quinlan separately after the Council met for a full accounting of the events on Geonosis.

“Three hundred dead, another hundred wounded. We would not be standing here talking without the clone intervention. What did you do with them?” Windu asked Ben.

“They’re back on Kamino. The Chancellor has already petitioned us for full control of them, which we denied on behalf of the Council.” Ben’s attention wasn’t on his words, but rather on the view out the window. “Kellin and I are going over the programming and will have a report ready within the week, for all the good it’ll do.”

“What do you mean?” Windu asked

“They’re a weapon, a sword,” Ben replied. “And like any sword, they’re double-edged. I’d prefer not to use them at all, but I fear the Senate may overrule that preference.”

“We’re going to need them, though,” Quinlan said, reluctantly. “There aren’t enough of us left to fight a war for the Republic.” He felt the truth of Ben’s words, but also felt the currents of the Force moving around them like a riptide.

“I know,” Ben said. “And that’s what frightens me.”

end


End file.
